A Matter of Perspective
by Captain Campion
Summary: As the moon travels through a Pulsar wind nebula two visitors come to moon base; one an alien who promises to return the Alphans to Earth, the other a ghost with a warning for John Koenig. Season 1.
1. Chapter 1

Alan Carter paced, putting into motion the churning, nervous energy felt by all the Alphans. Paul Morrow could not sit so he stood at his work station with Professor Bergman and Dr. Helena Russell on his flanks. Their eyes—all eyes in Main Mission—focused on the patch of lunar landscape broadcast over the view screen. Across that landscape moved a lunar buggy carrying John Koenig to the outer reaches of the base's perimeter.

Kano swiveled his chair and its attached work station around to face Morrow and the others.

"We will enter the pulsar wind nebula in four minutes."

Paul did not respond with words. His eyes shot to Sandra. She gave the next most important piece of information: "The commander is twenty yards from the tower."

Carter stopped his pacing and took two big steps to Morrow's side, nearly pushing Bergman out of the way.

"That should be me out there—or one of us--not the Commander."

Bergman consoled with his calm, fatherly voice, "Alan…Alan, do you really think John Koenig wouldn't do this himself?"

"I'm just saying—"

Paul shot, "That's of no help. Not now," then, in a softer voice, he asked the Professor a question that had been asked a hundred times in recent weeks: "If he does manage to make repairs and get the shield on line, will he still be protected enough out there, on the surface?"

Bergman shook his head slowly and answered Paul an answer he had also given a hundred times in those same weeks: "I wish I knew. We're dealing with a unique situation. The magnetic fields emanating from the pulsar create a condition similar to a particle accelerator, and Alpha is heading straight through…"

Indeed, the travelling moon drifted without control toward the outer most rim of a magnificent red and blue nebula that filled most of the sky if viewed from the moon base. Within its gaseous colors streaked lights of silver and white like rain fall reaching from the pulsar star at the heart of the beautiful celestial body. It was those streaks which held the Professor's concern.

On the lunar surface, Commander Koenig brought his buggy to a stop a short distance from one of the base's gravity towers. In the years since breaking free of Earth's orbit, those towers had been modified time and time again to server other purposes, none more memorable than when they were used to generate a shield to protect the base against the forces of a black sun. And while Koenig and Bergman had known that that particular shield had been nothing more than a morale booster—a placebo for hope---the idea had sparked a new, more practical use for those towers in this case.

Koenig—wearing a bulky orange space suit—fumbled out of the buggy and approached the dormant tower. He paused for a moment to glace first back at Alpha moon base hundreds of yards behind him, and then past the tower in front of him toward the horizon; a horizon dominated by the colors of the nebula and—of even greater concern—that sheet of raining particles that loomed in the distance like an approaching thunderstorm.

He felt the clock ticking.

Koenig turned his attention to the base of the tall tower where he found and opened a large control box mounted to the structure. In the center of an array of input jacks, wires, switches, and lights he spotted a yellow and black rectangular device that had been scorched black.

He raised his Commlock…

…and his voice played in Main Mission.

"Victor, you were right. It's the power converter. Damned thing overloaded."

Bergman leaned and punched a button on Morrow's console.

"They were never meant to last this long without replacement. My fault, I should have had them all checked when we first made the modifications."

Koenig's voice remained stern but they all heard the joke: "Remind me to yell at you when I get back."

"I look forward to it, John."

"But this is good, is it not?" Sandra asked.

Bergman offered a half-smile and told her, "Let's just say, it could have been worse."

Koenig communicated, "I'll have this unit replaced in two minutes," and returned his Commlock to the white utility belt on his space suit. They watched on the view screen as the commander stepped toward his buggy; a painfully tedious process in the slow-motion of anti-gravity. He retrieved a small kit and returned to the control box at the tower.

Kano informed: "Two minutes."

Sandra complained to herself but loud enough for all to hear: "Of all the vastness of space we have the bad fortune to go through this place. It is nothing but bad luck."

Bergman strolled away from Morrow's console and toward Sandra in a manner akin to a grammar school teacher instructing a student, but in that same fatherly voice.

"Bad luck? Actually Sandra, we are lucky in this case. This nebula stretches a half-dozen light years all the way back to a Pulsar star sitting in its heart. We're lucky that we're only skirting the outer edge instead of going through the middle. As it is, we'll spend seventy-two hours passing through this outer most branch of the nebula, instead of a practical eternity flying through the center. Lucky for us, computer is optimistic about our shield protecting us for that short amount of a time."

Helena whispered aloud, "Luck, I suppose, is a matter of perspective."

Kano took exception to the Professor's words: "Computer is neither optimistic nor pessimistic. Computer calculated a sixty percent chance that the electromagnetic shield will provide protection and that we have the power production capability to maintain that shield for the necessary seventy-two hours."

Carter snickered disdainfully and noted wryly, "Sixty percent chance? That's what passes for optimism around here these days?"

"At least the odds are not stacked against us this time," Sandra managed a meager smile.

Outside, on the surface of the moon at the base of the tower, John Koenig utilized a power screwdriver to remove each of the four retaining screws from the scorched component. His bulky gloves and the small screws made for a frustrating combination and slow work. The tool slipped form his hand and floated to the ground.

Koenig muttered to himself and bent to grab the device. In the process he dared a glance toward the horizon. That sheet of shooting particles had reached the moon. The bombardment traveled across the surface toward him in a glittering curtain.

Koenig worked even faster, removing the last screw and yanking the power converter free; letting it fly off and away while he hurriedly grabbed the replacement part and jammed it into the slot.

"John," Victor's voice came over his communicator. "Kano says the rays will be at your position in less than one minute."

"I can see that, Victor," he muttered but his Commlock remained off so his words were heard only by his own ears inside his lonely space suit. He could spare no time to answer.

Alphan machinists had engineered the replacement part to fit perfectly into the receptacle; perfectly in a universe where the moon had remained in orbit. Not a universe where the moon had been blasted clear and its surface exposed to all manner of cosmic forces ranging from intense gravity to the antibodies of a Space Brain. In that universe the leads and connections inside the box had warped. Not much, but enough. Enough to fight the Commander's efforts.

The sheath of particles raced across the moon's surface; shining down like shimmering lasers to the lifeless rock that surrounded moon base. In moments those rays would reach something not-so-lifeless; Commander John Koenig.

"Come on, damn it. Come on!"

The component did not listen. He could feel the tiny connector tubes inside the housing rejecting the thrusts of the small, sharp leads on the converter box: rejecting by the smallest of margins. Would these tiny millimeters be enough to doom Alpha?

_Not on my watch._

Koenig paused even as he felt the shining streaks of heavenly particles cast a silvery glow over his person and the tower. Instead of brute strength, he eased his push and tried to fit the connections in gently. He felt the leads slip into the tubes but still with resistance; as if the insides had corroded over the years.

He glanced to the horizon. Except now that horizon was directly in front of him; bearing down like a glowing tsunami stretching from the surface of the moon to the center of the nebula light years above. The travelling moon was like a stone thrown through a raging waterfall.

One more application of strength. Koenig slammed his palm into the black and yellow converter box and felt it click home in the housing. But at that instant the flood of particles engulfed him. He felt the building blocks of the universe passing through his body.

A scream escaped his lips as an intense pain—like electricity—engulfed him. Yet even in the midst of the storm he thought only of Alpha. He raised his finger and found the activation switch inside the control box. The button fought his push as the convertor had fought, but this time the resistance came not from the machine but from the muscles of the man; the storm of particles sapped his energy and conspired to freeze his flesh. He had so little strength…yet only seconds before the rain of rays crossed the gulf between the outer perimeter and his people.

_My people. _

His outstretched, gloved finger thrust forward, completing the circuit. A row of green lights inside the control lit instantly. Of more importance, a glowing blew energy field came to life spreading among the towers surrounding the moon base like a dome.

The rain of cosmic rays ceased; blocked by Victor Bergman's genius.

Inside Main Mission the success came not merely from external cameras recording their new blue guardian but from the instruments and computers measuring the environment within and around the base.

"It is on," Sandra spoke the obvious. "The Commander has done it."

Helena kept her eyes focused on the view screen. There she saw John Koenig standing at the base of the tower. Moments before that picture had displayed the image of John Koenig engulfed by the stream of particles. Helena had felt sure that he would die, right there. Of course it would have made no difference because she would have joined him in death mere seconds later if he had not completed the repair.

"Main Mission," she saw Koenig raise and speak through his Commlock. "Wh—what is your…what is…um…what is your status?"

Morrow replied with the switch of a button: "We're here, Commander. Checking on status." He eyed Kano who could not return his stare because he hurriedly worked the inputs at his computer station. A moment later a small slip of paper printed out and Kano ripped it free.

"Computer indicates shield is operational—" Kano said but Bergman stepped to Kano's shoulder and pulled the paper from his hands and finished with a far less detailed reply, "It's working John," and he clenched a fist and shook it enthusiastically as he repeated, "The shield is holding."

"Did you hear that, Commander?"

"Yes, Paul," John's voice answered. "That's good news."

"Paul," Sandra interrupted after receiving a message via her station's intercom. "The nuclear power center is reporting some unusual readings in the reactor. They say it is nothing to worry about at this time."

"Good, yes, good," Bergman said. "We should expect some unusual readings. We are, after all, in the middle of the universe's largest particle accelerator. All around us atoms are crashing together in a stream of violent collisions. Literally tearing at the building blocks of existence. This is fascinating," he turned to the communicator again. "John, we're going to have a lot of data to analyze."

"True, Victor. But I think I've had a close enough look today. I'm on my way back."

Helena asked, "John, how do you feel? You were exposed to the rays for several seconds before the shield switched on. Are you okay?"

He considered for a moment and then answered, "I think so, yes. A little fuzzy-headed. Even under this suit I can feel all the hair on my arms standing straight up."

"Well you get back here, John," Bergman said. "Come straight away. Remember, you have to yell at me."

Koenig chuckled as he said, "Don't worry; I've done enough sight seeing for today."

Out on the surface of the moon, John Koenig jumped into his buggy and worked the steering levers until he had re-orientated the vehicle for the return trip. High over his head buzzed the blue field of the shield and beyond that the silvery bands of cosmic rain that Victor had described as a storm of violent particles smashing and colliding and obliterating each other at the sub-atomic level.

He had been touched by that rain, John pondered as he drove across the rocky landscape. He had felt something during that touch…and still…something…a buzzing inside his head.

"John," Helena's voice came over his Commlock. "Are you okay? You are driving erratically."

_Leave it to Helena to nursemaid me,_ he thought.

John tried to grab his Commlock to offer a witty response but his reach missed. And then he realized…he WAS driving erratically. He had veered from the flat path he had used on the outbound journey and now rolled through an uneven field of rocks.

Before he could correct his course he felt that buzzing intensify.

"John, I can't see you. You've driven away from the monitors. Are you okay?"

Koenig heard her voice and he wanted to answer but a thousand other voices speaking gibberish in his head crowded Helena out.

_What is this? What is wrong with me?_  
His buggy had moved behind a series of large rocks, obstructing the view from Main Mission. No one at Alpha saw the orb of green energy that seeped from John Koenig's body and surrounded him in his space suit.

His hands left the levers and gripped either side of his helmet. The buggy side-swiped a rock. The impact jostled one elbow into a steering stick and the tiny vehicle swerved sharp—too sharp—and tilted on its side. The accident threw Koenig from the vehicle; he landed on the surface of the moon and rolled on his back.

The strange green energy slipped inside his body and Commander John Koenig lay on the surface of the moon, silent and still.

MARTIN LANDAU

BARBARA BAIN

SPACE 1999

THIS EPISODE

A glowing blue shield over Alpha…a rescue team carrying an astronaut on a stretcher on the back of a moon buggy…Koenig running through Alpha in his uniform with Paul, Kano and others in pursuit…an alien with a beard and metal armor standing in the Alpha reactor room…a man in a space suit on the surface of the moon with energy pulsating all around his body…Helena standing on an observation deck of some alien design overlooking a vast space filled with speeding and pulsating lights…a monitor flashing RED ALERT…an Alphan reactor glowing as if about to explode…a man in a blue robe standing on the surface of the moon opposite another man in an Alphan space suit…the moon traveling through a storm of streaming particles in the midst of a red and blue nebula…a man—his face hidden in a shadow inside an Alphan room—reaching forward and an "Ultra Probe" patch is visible on the sleeve of his blue jacket…a monitor on a communications kiosk displaying the text WHERE IS HELENA?...an Eagle crashing and sliding across the surface of the moon.


	2. Chapter 2

A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

The heavy airlock door slid open silently in the soundless vacuum of the moon's surface. Four Alphans in space suits—or 'pumpkin' suits so named for the orange and yellow color scheme--rode out from the base in a moon buggy. Each of them gazed up to where they would normally see the black void of space but now saw the shimmering blue light of the protective shield holding a rainstorm of silver and white and glittering cosmic rays at bay.

The strange dance of light played over the moon's surface in quiet flashes. The moon buggy whirled and bounced across the surface beneath that tapestry of color.

Dr. Mathias answered the beep of his Commlock, raising the small device close to his helmet visor in the process although the sound—both transmitted and received—carried through his helmet via wireless link: "We are en route to the Commander's location. E-T-A, two minutes."

Back in Main Mission Paul Morrow listened to the rest of Mathias' transmission: "Any word from the Commander? Has he responded?"

Paul glanced at Helena who stood two paces away from his work station. He hated saying the words within her ear shot.

"Nothing, no. We can't see him on any of our cameras but he should still be in the same position when we had last contact."

Mathias answered, "We'll be there soon. Tell…tell Dr. Russell we'll bring him straight back."  
She did not react, but Alan Carter did. He threw an arm over her shoulder, squeezed, and assured, "Don't worry Helena, he just got knocked off his ride, that's all. He'll be back in no time."

She tried to smile—they all did—but they knew the Commander lay on the surface of the moon; a most inhospitable place where even in normal circumstances the difference between life and death was as thin as the smallest seal on a space suit; only as strong as a faceplate struck by a hard moon rock.

But yet today did not qualify as 'normal circumstances'. Today the moon past through the equivalent of a cosmic particle accelerator with only an improvised magnetic shield for protection.

At least personnel inside moon base could count on protection engineered into the base when it had been constructed; protection designed to provide some shelter against the sun's radiation, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections. But the lunar surface provided no such extra layer of safety; any of the particles that penetrated the glowing blue sheath would hit the Alphans directly, the way some of those same particles had hit the Commander the moment before he had completed the tower repairs.

Everyone in Main Mission watched the rescue team work their way across the surface. Sandra was one of those watching but something on her console caught her eye.

"Paul, those readings from the reactor…they are growing more unstable."

Paul shot a look in her direction and his brow furrowed. Bergman stepped close and glanced over her shoulder. He read silently and then said, "Kano, check with computer. Analyze data streams from Nuclear Generating Area Three."

Kano punched numbers on his console.

The tone of concern in Victor's voice shook Helena from the view screen.

"What is it? Is there a problem?"

Victor Bergman rubbed his chin but kept his eyes on the readings on Sandra's console.

"I'm not sure," he admitted.

Helena glanced back at the view screen. The rescue team moved behind the rocks where they had last seen John Koenig…

…and there Dr. Mathias and his medical team found the Commander, lying on his back with his eyes closed. They dismounted their moon buggy a few feet from John's own ride which had tumbled onto its side.

The medical technicians moved as fast as the weightless environment allowed, kneeling next to the still body and using Koenig's suit's medical monitoring equipment to check his status.

Mathias watched them work and raised his Commlock.

"Main Mission, we've reached the Commander. He is unconscious. The integrity of his pumpkin suit does not appear to have been compromised."

Helena's voice: "Check the vital statistics monitor on his wrist."

Under other circumstances Mathias might have been offended at her instruction on something so basic. As it were, he understood her not to be in exactly the right mind.

One of the space-suit-clad nurses lifted Koenig's hand and checked the series of lights and readouts on the white wristband. She gave Mathias a 'thumbs up' signal.

"His basic vital signs appear normal. There's nothing more we can do until we get him back inside. Mathias out."

"Then hurry back," Paul's voice stated the obvious over the Commlock.

Mathias switched it off and muttered, "Thanks for all the help, Main Mission."

Back in that control center Kano received a report in the form of a slip of paper. He read in a monotone voice one would expect from the computer he loved so much.

"Unstable energy patters developing inside Nuclear Generating Area Three. Computer suggests an evacuation of the area."

Several voices spoke at once.

Carter: "Evacuate? What, to the far side of the moon?"

Bergman: "I'm going down there."

Paul, into the intercom on his console: "Nuclear Generating Area Three…Joan, what's going on down there?"

Joan Conway's voice came over the intercom with no small tremor of fear, "Main Mission, we don't know. We're getting an energy surge. The power is off the scale!"

Bergman walked fast toward the exit. Helena followed but stopped before leaving the room. She glanced to the main viewer and saw John Koenig in his space suit on a stretcher on the back of a moon buggy. Two of the rescue team sat in the front of the buggy, the other two jogged alongside near the rear helping to keep the stretcher stable while they returned to base at a snail's pace.

_John…_

She knew he was in good hands. She knew the decision to send Mathias—not her—to be best not only because Mathias had already been in position with a stand-by medical team but because her personal…her personal _feelings_ might get in the way.

She left Main Mission and hurried to catch Bergman; an easy feat considering his artificial heart allowed nothing more than a fast walk. As they moved through the corridors of Alpha the two heard Paul's voice over the address system: "Red Alert. Evacuate Nuclear Generating Area Three and surrounding stations. Stand by damage control parties; medical center, prepare to receive casualties."

Alarms sounded through the base and, to accentuate the point, each of the Commposts flashed RED ALERT in big, bold letters.

As Helena and Bergman approached the effected area activity in the corridors grew to a frenzy. Most personnel moved away from the nuclear generating area, carrying their most important papers and equipment. A few brave souls headed toward the evacuated area, most of them wearing protective gear in preparation for battling a fire or cleaning radioactivity.

Helena knew, however, that if one of the nuclear generators actually suffered an extreme overload there would be no safe zone on Alpha. Just another reminder of the precarious nature of their existence.

Helena and Victor merged with a trio of damage control engineers as they arrived at the big red double-doors where signs warned of radioactivity, danger, and authorized personnel only. Those doors opened and after a pair of technicians hurried out the group headed in; the floor of the huge room matched the color of the doors.

A small enclosed office, rows of computer banks, and a large balcony comprised Nuclear Generating Area Number Three, but it was the main reactor door that dominated the chamber. This massive vault-like structure warned of 'danger' and 'radiation' on the floor before it and again on the silver door with additional words 'reactor' adding emphasis.

Overhead the balcony connected to a small room above the reactor; a room filled with controls as well as the piping that led to the reactor rods.

A woman just shy of thirty years old with slightly curled blond hair emerged from the upper room and hurriedly crossed the catwalk and descended the stairs to Helena and Victor. She carried a portable scanner and a clipboard, her eyes darting between both as she walked fast. Her uniform sported the rust color of the technical section on its left sleeve.

Despite the alarms, a growing hum from the reactor, and the fear of what might be happening behind that massive door, Bergman maintained a cool demeanor in his voice. He knew Joan was under enough stress without an emergency: she had inherited the supervisory role for the nuclear generating areas after three of her predecessors had died under mysterious circumstances in the months before.

"Joan, what have we got here? It looks like an uncontrolled chain reaction."

"That's' what I thought, Professor," she spoke loud enough to be heard over the alarms and chaos. "But look at these readings," and she handed him the portable scanner.

Bergman's expression changed from curiosity to shock. His eyes widened and he glanced at the reactor door then back to the scanner.

Conway said, "I did a direct check on the reactor core through the cooling system. The readings are confirmed."

"Is it that bad?" Helena asked, her own eyes fixed on the reactor door.

"That's just it," Bergman ran a finger over the scanner and mentally checked the calculations the hand-held device presented. "Everything appears to be fine."

"What are you saying?" Helena asked. "I thought you said—"

Conway explained, "According to the status indicators there is a massive build up of energy inside the reactor core. But those indicators measure general power output from the reactor housing. I took a direct reading from the core itself. It shows the increased power output we would expect for maintaining the electromagnetic shield but not the runaway reaction indicated by the other monitors."

"What it means," Professor Bergman said while keeping his eyes on the portable scanner, "Is that there is a power build up here…but it's not from our reactors."

Helena gasped softly, pointed toward the vault, and grabbed their attention.

"Victor…_look…"_

Conway and Bergman tore their eyes from the scanner's readout and saw what Helena saw: a yellow glob of energy glowing in front of the reactor door…building brighter and brighter making an explosion seem imminent.

Helena did not run. Nor did the others. There was no time for escape.

It did explode; not in fire and destruction but in a flash of blinding light.

And then the glow faded…faded…leaving a swirling oblong mass of energy some two meters high and half as wide a few feet in front of the reactor.

"Nuclear Generating area, report," Paul's voice came over a nearby Commpost.

Everyone in the room—Bergman, Conway, Dr. Russell, the damage control team—stood still and did not answer; the sight before their eyes offered too dazzling a spectacle; too great a mystery.

More surprises came.

At the center of the yellow oval of energy came a shadow; a hulking shadow that slowing took form and then…and then stepped from the ball of energy and into Alpha moon base.

The humanoid stood some six feet tall with a shaggy dark beard and matching curly hair. He wore metal plates on his shoulders and shins linked together by a tightly stretched tunic made of a blue material best described as spandex.

Helena raised her Commlock and transmitted, "Security to Nuclear Generating Area Three."

The alien watched them through dark eyes situated close together above a large nose. The mouth—barely visible through the tangle of beard—opened and closed hesitantly, as if new, and made no sound.

"Well," Bergman stepped forward but still kept his distance. "Hello there."

The newcomer did not move. His mouth sputtered a sound, stopped, and then mumbled another. He raised one of his big fingers to those lips and touched them as if gauging their reality, then tried again to speak: "Eeee….eee-yan…nnnn…"

"It's trying to speak," Conway said the obvious.

Helena gained some control of her senses and told the damage control party, "Clear the room."

The three men hesitated for only a second and then followed the order. The red double doors opened and as the engineers left in rushed a pair of security guards with their hands reaching for the lasers in their holsters.

Bergman's attention alternated from the alien to the guards.

"No! Now just wait one moment."

"I…eeaan…nooo…"

The guards paused at a distance, ready to draw arms if needed but held at bay for the time.

Helena stepped toward the alien man.

"I am Helena Russell. This is Professor Victor Bergman. You are on moon base Alpha."

That struck a cord with the visitor.

"Alll-phaa…All-pha…Alpha…yes…there."

Bergman smiled and noted, "Sounds like you're getting the hang of it."

"I…I am," the alien said. "It just took…just took a point of reference. There…I feel better already."

"Who are you?" Conway asked in a frantic voice. The last alien entity to enter the reactor area had caused the death of two of her colleagues. "What is it you want?"

"Oh yes," the newcomer's voice held a deep tone but with a friendly accent. "My name is Volgron. Sorry to intrude on you like this but there was no time for a more formal, cautious introduction. There is but a short window of opportunity so I had to hurry right over to see you."

Bergman asked, "And what is it we can do for you, Volgron?"

"For me? Why Professor, it's what I can do for _you._ I'm here to help you find your way back home."

---

Commander Koenig lay on a bed at the diagnostic unit inside Medical center. He wore blue pajamas under a thin sheet. The line of monitors on the wall behind him relayed his life signs. Three white-sleeved nurses worked around is still body.

Dr. Bob Mathias approached the foot of the bed and stared at the Commander as if studying a puzzle. A beep from his Commlock interrupted his thoughts. He held the communicator up and saw Paul Morrow's face.

"Yes, Paul?"

"What's the Commander's status?"

Mathias sighed. He knew Morrow; he knew Morrow liked direct, simple, answers. He did not like answers that led to more questions.

"The Commander is still unconscious."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Mathias admitted. "He suffered no external injuries other than a few minor bruises most likely from his fall. His vital signs are stable and within normal parameters with the exception of some unusual brain wave patters, but nothing too out of the ordinary."

"That's not a very good answer, Doctor."

"Look Paul, no one knows how exposure to those cosmic particles could affect a human being. It's possible he's suffering from a form of radiation we are not familiar with. Something our instruments can't detect. It has happened before."

Perhaps Morrow sensed the defensiveness in Mathias' voice; perhaps the burdens of command lay heavy on his shoulders. Whatever the reason, he sounded almost conciliatory when he said, "I wish he were up walking around."

"I understand. Is Doctor Russell coming down here? I could use her input."

"Not right at the moment," Paul answered. "She's needed up here."

"I don't understand."

Morrow qualified, "We have a visitor. An alien visitor on moon base."

"A visitor?" Mathias' face corkscrewed as an embodiment of confusion. "From where?"

"That's the question. I'm hoping to have an answer shortly."

Morrow terminated the transmission. Mathias stared at the Commander, now puzzled even more.

---

Despite Koenig's incapacity, his office remained in use. More specifically, Paul had set up the conference table in the lower section at the rear of the chamber. Helena Russell, Professor Bergman, and Kano sat around the table while Paul Morrow stood alongside and Alan Carter leaned against one of the windows on the outer wall. From there his attention alternated between the blue glow outside that window and the alien who paced as he spoke to the Alphans.

"I apologize again for my entrance. I understand it caused some dramatics for you."

Bergman explained: "What our readings suggested was a power surge in the reactor was actually Volgron's arrival. Our reactor is operating normally. There was no danger."

"Not normally, Professor," Kano said. "All of the nuclear generating areas are reporting increased output beyond that originally forecast to maintain the shield."

Morrow intervened, "Let's not get bogged down here in those details, Kano. Not now. We have more pressing concerns," and he nodded toward their alien guest.

"Volgron," Helena asked, "The energy portal you came through is still there."

"Yes, indeed," their visitor went on, "It is what you would refer to as a 'gateway' or 'tunnel.' This is the means by which my people travel the universe."

Carter offered an expression akin to tasting a sour lemon and complained, "What, no space ships? No vessels? Just walking through a door? Now that's what I call oddball."

"Hmmm…'oddball', is this a technical term?"

Bergman smirked slightly and explained, "What Alan is saying is that your means of transportation is rather unusual to us."

"Weird would be the word," Carter clarified for himself.

"I see," Volgron countered. "Well to me, the idea of exploring the universe in machines like yours is—what did you say?—yes, I see it as 'oddball'. You see, my outpost is several light years away near the heart of this nebula. Yet I walked right in to your reactor room."

"And how exactly did you do _that?"_ Morrow asked in a tone that belied his concern for Alpha's security.

Volgron answered, "If I were to ask you how your spaceships work, could you answer that in a sentence or two? Suffice to say, the technology for our quantum tunnels is a complicated matter that revolves around bending gravity and tapping the quantum flows of the universe."

Bergman snapped his fingers and pointed, his face filled with the glee he always found in a new discovery.

"You've mined the vacuum!"

"The what?" Bergman's words confused Volgron.

"Yes, Professor, exactly what are you talking about?" Morrow maintained his tone.

"Well, um, oh how to put it," Bergman grabbed the back of his neck as if massaging a pain there. "You see, in quantum mechanics there is the theory that what we consider the vacuum in space is not the lowest energy point attainable."

"I fly through space all the time," Carter said, "Seems like an empty place to me."

"Yes, well, the theory is that what we see as a vacuum is not actually devoid of particles and that therefore a lower state of energy must exist. The concept I'm referring to is a big part of sub-atomic theory and—"

"—And is not important right now, Professor," Morrow ended the scientific lesson for the day. "I don't want to get off track."

Bergman nodded in a manner that suggested both agreement and an apology for going off on a tangent.

Paul Morrow addressed Volgron, "Okay, you travel space through this tunneling technology of yours. Why did you pop up in our reactor room?"

"I am an explorer," he boomed. "I am here studying the interactions of the particles in this nebula. The very same particles that you have blocked out with your shield."

Bergman noted, "Since you use quantum tunneling for your transportation I have to believe your sub-atomic knowledge is vast. Certainly a giant cosmic particle accelerator such as you have here would be of great interest."

"I suppose so, yes," Volgron nodded.

"Imagine, with your technology," Bergman grew excited again. "Here in this nebula the very building blocks of our universe are being torn asunder. To see that…to witness that is to explore the very origins of existence."

Morrow shot Bergman a stern look. Victor backed down again with the wave of a hand.

Volgron went on, "The nuclear reactions inside your power generator mimicked the type of interactions I need to create a stable gateway. Combined with the fierce particle storm raging around your moon I was able to tunnel to Alpha and stop in for a visit."

"The portal is still open," Helena said. "Does that mean you can come and go as you please?"

"Well, yes, for the time being. But your moon will soon be out of the nebula and on your way. Once you have moved beyond the particle storm the conditions for the quantum tunnel will cease."

Kano offered, "We will exit the nebula in seventy one hours."

"Ah, yes," Volgron stroked his beard as he considered the situation. "Then we'll have to move fast. Very fast. If I am to help you return to your home. To your Earth."

"Hey, now wait a sec," Carter strolled forward and eyed the tall alien from top to bottom. "How is it this fella knows so much about us?"

Volgron admitted, "Before emerging in your reactor room I snuck a quick peak into some of your data storage devices."

"Computer?" Kano nearly shouted with offense.

"I apologize but I wanted to know a little more about you before I decided to make contact. That's when I learned of your particular predicament."

Before any of the men could speak Helena pointed out, "The same way we scan a planet, or a space ship, before landing or docking. I see no harm in that."

"How is it you propose to send us back to Earth?" Marrow asked. "Can these tunnels of yours stretch that far?"

"Usually no," Volgron admitted. "But a vast energy source is at our disposal. Enough energy to generate a stable tunnel all the way back to your home planet."

Bergman guessed, "The pulsar wind? The particles out there, being blocked by our shield? Is that what you are saying?"

"Exactly, Professor."

"Now wait one moment," Carter said. "The commander risked his life trying to get that shield back up to protect us from those things. I'm not for flying around out there with a bucket and a shovel digging this stuff up for some crazy experiment."

"Not an experiment," Morrow said. "Possibly a way home."

Volgron addressed Alan: "You don't have to go anywhere, my friend. From what I can see of this shield you've erected, we can use it and the towers that power it to channel the needed energy requirements through my existing quantum tunnel and back to my outpost."

"And then what?" Alan turned a palm upwards. "We just walk through to your place then take another door back to Earth? Am I to believe that?"

Kano chided Carter, "You're just angry that there might be a better way to go through space than in an Eagle."

"Your damned right. Hey, I want to get back to Earth more than the next guy but I want to know what's behind a door before I walk through it. And I also want to know why Volgron here is so quick to help us."

"That's a good question," Paul Morrow turned to the alien. "Why do you want to help us?"

Volgron sighed and paced around the table slowly in what the others saw as a gesture of disappointment, perhaps.

"Tell me, my friends, if you came across me in my outpost and it was damaged beyond my ability to repair yet well within your capabilities, would you not assist? Have you not met dozens of intelligent life forms as you've traveled the universe and has not the thought of interacting with them—of helping them in some way—motivated you on occasion? I may not be the same type of humanoid as you, but as an explorer in this wonderful universe I am drawn to the prospect of helping people such as you. Not merely out of kindness, but in the hope of gaining knowledge. I am sorry that your travels appear to have made you more jaded if anything."

Professor Bergman stood and replied, "You're right, Volgron, we tend to be suspicious of that we do not know or understand. We have met numerous species of humanoids and otherwise, and our encounters have not always been of a friendly nature."

Volgron nodded his big head and said, "Then let me put your mind at ease, Professor. I offer an invitation for some of your number to cross the tunnel and visit my outpost. Then you can judge the sincerity of my offer. But consider this: what have I to gain? And what danger do I pose? The only effort on your part would be creating a link between your shield towers and my facilities; a link to channel power from the particle storm, not from Alpha's own generators. At the first sign of trouble, you can sever that link."

Volgron went quiet and let his words sink in.

"Returning to Earth," Victor said aloud. "Isn't that what we've wanted from the beginning?"

"Hey Professor, I'm all for it," Carter said. "And I'm not always the most cautious. But a little more information would be nice."

"Time is a factor," Volgron said. "When Alpha leaves the nebula, you also leave behind any chance at returning to your home."

---

John Koenig lay silent on a bed in the diagnostic section of Alpha Medical. A nurse checked his vital signs and, satisfied with what she saw, dared a walk outside and down the corridor for a cup of coffee, leaving the commander in the company of only the beeps and tones of the medical equipment.

_John…John...Ko-…Koenig…_

The Commander's eyes fluttered and opened slightly for the first time in hours. The medical equipment registered no dramatic change in heart rate or breathing but the brain wave monitor showed a series of high peaks and low valleys.

_John Koenig_…

No alarms rang…no warning signs flashed as a soft green glow of energy vibrated around the Commander's body. The hair on his arms stood straight. The brain wave monitor raced.

_John Koenig…wake up._

His tired eyes searched the room.

Nothing. No one.

"Who…who's there? Who is that?"

_You know this voice…John Koenig._

"I…I recognize the voice…the accent…can't quite…remember…" the Commander whispered and raised a hand to his head. That's when he noticed the energy surrounding him.

"What is happening to me? Who are you?"

_Alpha is in great danger, John Koenig_.

The voice faded. The energy waned.

_This is difficult. Your mind…your memories…conflicted. I must warn you…_

The door to medical center opened. The nurse returned but walked a step behind Dr. Mathias whose expression clearly showed his displeasure at the patient being left unattended, even for a matter of seconds. Yet the doctor arrived too late to know that the Commander had gained consciousness or that his body had been engulfed by energy, for when he rounded the corner into the diagnostic area he found John Koenig sound asleep.

"There," the nurse said defiantly, "just as I left him."

And she sipped from her cup of coffee.

---

Volgron stood at the mouth of his glowing yellow gateway; the quantum tunnel that would return him to his outpost. He glanced around at the Alpha personnel gathered to watch his departure, including all those who had attended the conference as well as the technicians of Nuclear Generating Area Three.

"Consider my offer: a chance for you to return to Earth."

His words had an obvious effect on the Alphans; cautious smiles, nervous glances to one another, and widening eyes.

Yes, Earth, that crazy dream that had faded further with each day they had flown away from their home. How many thousands of light years—no, _tens of thousands_—separated them from their families and friends? From their old lives?

"We will consider it," Paul Morrow said.

The friendly alien urged. "Time is short. I repeat my offer to have some of your number visit me and see the potential for yourselves. I will return in a short time. If you have no interest in returning to Earth, I will leave you in peace. But if you are willing to take the first step then we will have to move quickly."

"We shall have an answer by then," Helena said.

"With your permission, I will leave the tunnel active so that my return will be easier. I will attempt to devise a means of communication from your base to my outpost through the link."

"That is acceptable," Morrow told him.

Bergman added, "And thank you, Volgron."

The alien nodded, turned, and stepped into the energy. His form collapsed in on itself and disappeared, leaving the shimmering yellow gateway behind.

Helena—like the rest—watched in amazement but a tone from her Commlock grabbed her attention. She raised it and looked at the face of Dr. Mathias on the video screen. Helena accepted the call by activating two-way visual communication.

"Yes?"

Mathias told her, "I have someone here you might want to talk to."

The video picture changed as the Commlock on the other side changed hands. John Koenig's face appeared. Tired. Worn. But awake.

"Hello, Helena. Have I missed anything?"

---

Commander John Koenig moved through the hallways of Alpha by unfamiliar means: a wheel chair. Dr. Russell walked alongside while Dr. Mathias pushed.

Koenig summed up the briefing he had listened to for more than an hour: "Strange. How very…strange."

His voice sounded like he looked: Groggy. Beat. And distracted. All of which concerned Helena but the relief at him regaining consciousness without any signs of significant bodily harmed overrode those concerns.

"That's one way to put it," she answered as they moved along the corridor. "But considering all we've seen since we left Earth's orbit…well, 'strange' has become the new normal."

"Blast this thing," Koenig gripped the handles on the wheel chair. "I tell you, I'm good enough to walk."

"Yes you are," Mathias said, "but you need to conserve your energy, Commander. Remember our agreement."

Koenig mocked, "You let me out of my hospital bed if I promise to rest in my quarters. That's a bum deal. Hey wait, I'm the Commander around here, I thought _I_ made the deals."

"Only if a medical officer certifies you fit for duty," Helena quipped, enjoying—a little—John's frustration.

Mathias chimed in, "And neither of us will do that until you've had some time to rest and recover."

Koenig touched his forehead.

"I am exhausted. I don't quite…I don't quite feel…"

"What?" Helena asked.

"Nothing. I mean, I don't quite feel myself."

Helena told him, "You were bombarded with particles traveling at light speed colliding with others traveling the same. Victor says the very fabric of our universe is being torn and plundered all around us. And you were in the middle of it for a few seconds until the shield went up. Not quite feeling yourself is getting off lucky in my book."

They turned a bend in the corridor.

John, somewhat dazed, asked, "What was that? I'm sorry, I wasn't listening."

"I know," she admitted not merely because she had noticed his attention drift but because she knew how his mind worked. "Alpha is safe, John. The shield is holding."

"Kano said it's pulling more power than we thought," he complained.

"John…the shield his holding. We'll be through this in less than three days."

"Or," he countered, "We could be on our way home."

They arrived at his quarters. Koenig reached for his Commlock but he still wore blue pajamas. Helena smiled and produced it.

"Looking for this?" She teased and activated the door before handing it to him. The interior was only half-lit, a concession in all living quarters as long as the nuclear generators were running at full power. However, the windows along the outer wall offered a pale blue glow that stretched across half the chamber.

Mathias said as they wheeled him inside, "There, that wasn't so painful."

"Easy for you to say," Koenig said, half-kidding but also half-serious; Helena knew he did not like his people—the Alphans who wanted him to be the all-knowing infallible Commander—seeing him in such condition. Not because of ego, but because of morale. They needed to see him as more than just a man, even if that were an illusion.

Koenig stood. They each offered help but he refused. Then he walked across his spacious living quarters to the windows. From there Koenig admired the blue glow and the sparkling light held at bay by that glow.

"Amazing. Another one of Bergman's creations, just in the nick of time."

"A patchwork, Victor called it. A patchwork of everything he could throw together," Helena said. "But John, we won't need Victor's creations to save us if we give Volgron a chance to send us home."

The Commander swung around and walked over to her; walked fast. A little too fast. He nearly stumbled and fatigue caused him to slow. Two reminders that he was not yet fit to retake the reigns of Alpha.

"Are you asking me, or telling? I'm not in Command yet, now am I?"

Helena wavered, uneasy with his tone.

"No," she admitted. "Not yet."

"So I can't order you _not_ to go to his outpost, that's what you're telling me."

She shifted uncomfortably and answered, "John, you took a risk for all of Alpha by going out there and repairing the shield tower. Now I know you want to carry us all on your shoulders, but some of us have shoulders strong enough to do a little of that work, too. As chief medical officer, I can evaluate Volgron's tunneling system and its effects on the human body. Victor will go with me to examine the process and gauge the power requirements."

"And I'll sit here, in my quarters taking a nap. Is that how it's going to go? Is it, Helena?"

She licked her lips and answered in little more than a whisper, "For now…yes. I'm sorry, John, but in a few hours if all goes well then you'll be back in command and the decision will be yours."

He threw a hand on his neck, massaging again. She watched as he took a series of deep breaths, each one more calm and controlled then the one before.

Finally he relented, "You're right, of course. I'm sorry. I just don't like this. Any of it. It's not like me to sit on the sideline when something this important is going on."

She said nothing more. What could she say? Instead she offered a small smile—just a little tug at the edges of her mouth.

Koenig turned and retreated deeper into his quarters. Helena and Dr. Mathias watched him for a moment longer, and then the two doctors left the Commander's room. The door slid shut behind them and the two stood outside in the quiet corridor.

"He seems in good shape," Mathias consoled. "There is no reason to believe he won't be back on the job in a few hours. Just a precaution…waiting like this."

Helena glanced at the closed door, nodded, and then joined Mathias as they walked off. They had much to do in the coming hours.

Not long after one of those hours past, John Koenig rustled away on his small, contour bed. He still felt tired and, as he had told Helena, not quite himself. Nonetheless, he could not sleep. Instead, he rose to his feet and paced impatiently, moving from the shadows to the lighted area, ringing his hands, and trying his best to remain balanced. He used his will to fight the queasy feeling in his head as well as the fatigue that ran through his entire body.

_John Koenig._

He stopped. The voice. That familiar voice. He knew it. He knew the accent. But he could not believe—

_John Koenig, hear me. _

The queasiness and the fatigue doubled. No, tripled. He stumbled half over catching his fall with a hand to the small table near his contoured bed. He felt that sensation again…as he had in Medical…of power coursing through his body.

_Please...you MUST hear me…_

That's when he realized…his body…glowing green…with green energy.

"I—I hear you," but did he? Did the voice come to his ears, or only in his head? Was this some phantom sound that—

The voice showed form. He saw it. A man…the shadow of a man standing in lightless corner behind the Commpost near the lunar windows, just out of reach of the blue glow streaking in from outside. Standing there. Standing still.

John Koenig stood still and whispered, "I see you."

The shadow took one step forward. A sliver of light found the sleeve of a blue jacket the man wore. Koenig recognized the jacket; he had had one just like it, a long time ago except his jacket had had the designation 'Telemetry Control' instead of 'Flight Crew' under the words 'ULTRA PROBE'.

The stranger's hand reached out form the shadow.

_You must listen…_

"No…no it can't be…" Koenig stuttered. His heart raced.

The shadow stepped forward, his face dimly lit in the glow from outside.

In the time since leaving Earth's orbit John Koenig had seen all manner of unexplainable events and creatures. But never before had he seen a ghost. The ghost of a friend he had watched die not long ago. The ghost of the Commander of the doomed Ultra probe.

Tony Cellini.


	3. Chapter 3

Commander Koenig's weary eyes grew wide, he felt his legs tremble even more than they had been trembling ever since returning form the moon's surface.

Tony Cellini. His comrade. His friend.

_John Koenig…do you hear me..?_

He had faced all manner of devilish creatures, unexplainable phenomena, and outrageous alien powers, but none compared to this. It was not merely what was standing there—a dead man—but _who._ This was not just any lost friend or colleague. This was Tony Cellini.

"I…I hear you," he knew he should have asked who—or what—this specter was but as he saw the face of Tony Cellini John Koenig also saw the questions and the distrust and the incredulity that had surrounded Cellini from the moment he had returned from the Ultra probe without his crew and with only the command module intact.

The ghost of Tony Cellini stood in the beams of blue force field light shimmering in through the windows. As John studied the entity, he realized it appeared as confused as himself. Unsure of its existence or surroundings or both.

_This is difficult. Your feelings for this one…strong enough for us to get a clear image…confusing…but difficult to sort the emotional response in you…having difficulty…_

"You're not real…you can't be," John waved his hand in the karate chop-like gesture he often used to accentuate a point; to convince. This time he tried to convince himself. "Tony Cellini died. He went back to face his dragon on the Ultra Probe and we all saw him die!"

The entity struggled with the words: _Went…back…went…back…Ultra Probe…_

"Yes, the Ultra Probe. Do you remember? It left Earth years ago and when it returned all aboard were lost. Tony said he found a graveyard of ships and a monster living there," and the pain came back. The guilt. Koenig's head bowed and he muttered, "No one believed him. I stood by him. I supported him to the commission…to the investigators…to Helena. He was my friend."

_Your…friend…_

"Yes, my friend. Do you understand? I was there for him…I…I told him I believed him. I told everyone I believed him. I almost…I almost even," Koenig actually turned away from the ghost in his room and pounded a fist against the wall. "I almost even convinced myself that I believed him."

_Such conflict, John Koenig. It is a storm in you. Difficult to break free of. This form…a mistake._

"It took the moon being blasted out of Earth's orbit and travelling across the stars to find that graveyard of ships, to find the Ultra Probe and what happened to the crew. To find Tony Cellini's dragon. It took that much until we all knew for sure that Tony had told the truth. Everyone thought...even Helena…they all thought I had been right because I had believed him from the beginning. But I hadn't, not really. So yes, whatever you are, Tony Cellini means a lot to me but most of all he reminds me that in the end even I did not honestly believe him, no matter what I said."

_Guilt…this is guilt…we feel it in you Koenig; a struggle to remain…difficult to remain…_

"Why are you here? What are you? Who are you?"

He found the courage to step forward. To move closer to the entity. Yet even as he did that entity began to fade from the physical form of John's lost friend to a shimmering blob of green energy.

_You are in danger…all of Alpha is in danger…you must believe me this time, John Koenig…_

The Commander fell backwards as that blob of energy surged toward him. He saw a flash as he hit the ground; his already-bruised body groaned with new pain on top of the sensation of electricity racing through him.

This time he did not loose consciousness. But considering all he had seen, he wondered if he had ever been awake to begin with.

---

"I will not keep them for long," Volgron announced to the assembled Alphans in the reactor room. His 'Quantum Tunnel' shimmered in the air behind him where it floated in two-dimensions. Alphans could actually walk behind the strange energy blob, between it and the reactor.

"Our Commlocks—our communicators," Paul asked, "Won't work?"

Volgron hesitated for a second, apparently considering, and told him, "My dear friend, Dr. Russell and Professor Bergman will soon be light years away from moon base. Can your devices reach that far?"

"No," Bergman conceded. "Of course not."

Volgron said, "That is why I have enabled voice communication through the portal. If you stand near enough to the entrance of the tunnel, your words will carry through to my outpost. The opposite will also be true."

Alan Carter—also among the gathered spectators—quipped, "Like tin cans with a piece of string, eh?"

Volgron did not know what to make of that.

Bergman intervened: "Very well then. I suggest we get going. Alpha only has, oh, what was it?"

Paul Morrow said, "Sixty-four hours."

"Yes, we only have sixty-four hours until we've passed through the nebula," Bergman finished.

"Yes! Yes! Let's go, my friends," Volgron sounded as if he were taking two close pals to a holiday banquet. "I imagine you will need a few of those hours to evaluate the procedure. Let us carry on."

Volgron stepped toward the glowing yellow light. Helena and Bergman did the same but not without hesitation.

"You just step through," the alien assured, "and there you will find my outpost."

Volgron went first. He stepped forward and was yanked further in, as if falling. He changed from a tall, wide alien into a blob of a shadow and then disappeared.

"Hey Doc," Carter called to Helena before she followed. "You come back in one piece, you hear?"

Her reply came in a faint smile, and then she and Victor followed in Volgron's steps, disappearing into the churning energy.

Paul Morrow and Alan Carter glanced at one another…

…while on the other side of Volgron's energy stream Helena stepped through to his outpost, following Victor by a pace. She stumbled and found herself steadied by one of Volgron's big hands.

"Easy, Dr. Russell. Easy now, you and the Professor have made it; all in one piece, I trust?"

She raised a hand to her temple as Volgron let go. This time her equilibrium held.

"I…I think so. A little light headed."

"That's to be expected," the alien assured. "I'm sure it's something to which you will quickly become accustomed. At least, a little light-headedness is a small exchange for finding your way back to home, is it not?"

She did not reply. Instead, Helena ran her hands over her body, checking for parts. She felt strange, that was true. But her medical mind did not discern anything serious. Nonetheless, she had brought with her a small, portable medical scanner and she intended to use it. But first—

Her eyes adjusted to the view. Behind her glowed the quantum tunnel. It had brought them to what her mind thought of as an observation deck: a crescent-shaped room lined with strange controls of a kind she had never seen. They appeared to be circuit pathways of pure energy, zigzagging and flowing along the inside wall that swept off to either direction.

As interesting as the technology was, the sight ahead grabbed her full attention, as it had already grabbed Bergman's. She joined him at a railing made of some combination of wood and metal, or at least that's how it looked and felt. The outer wall—by the railing—was comprised of a clear material, most likely a heavy glass.

"This is the heart of the nebula?" Bergman stammered.

Helena remarked softly, "Amazing. Simply…amazing."

The view outside the outpost windows showed a chaotic clash of light and energy. Helena saw a bright object orbited by smaller objects almost like a small sun orbited by a half-dozen moons, all covered in a softly glowing haze. And beyond that she saw another such image, and another, and another.

"It is not what I expected," she said.

Bergman tilted his head and said, "Whereabouts are you in the nebula? Are you within the gravitational field of the Pulsar? I really can't see any of the pulsar wind or anything else for that matter." He referred to the brilliant lights outside the windows that—despite displaying a cosmic beauty of their own—inhibited any view of the space beyond.

"We're close to the Pulsar, yes," Volgron answered as he joined them at the rail. "My means of observation is to focus on select sectors of the universe, as opposed to the, um, 'bigger' picture, as you might say."

"I have so many questions…"

"Time enough, Professor," Volgron interrupted. "Once we have begun the transportation of Alphans to Earth, you and I can discuss these matters in-depth. But since we are working against a deadline…"

"Yes, yes of course," Victor nodded. "We should go over the particulars at once. Helena?"

Helena remained transfixed on the view outside the outpost. She said, "I can't quite place it, Victor, but I've seen this before. Or something like it. Sometime in our travels, I suppose."

"The universe holds many wonders," Volgron told her. "In all your travels, I am sure you have seen a thousand such sights yet each one is exciting and new in its own right."

She turned to him.

"I suppose so, yes."

"Helena," Victor guided her. "Perhaps you should take those medical readings?"

Her face grew flush in embarrassment. "Of course."

---

"I'm telling you what I saw," Koenig stood in what was his Command office with the doors to Main Mission shut.

Paul Morrow glanced first at Carter and Dr. Mathias and then to the Commander. His brow furrowed.

"You saw Tony Cellini? _The_ Tony Cellini? The Commander of the Ultra Probe?"

Carter massaged his stomach in about the same place where Cellini had hit him; one of the two times he had hit him in fact.

"Yes," Koenig—wearing his full uniform—said, and then modified his tone as he turned and paced away. "Or no. I saw what looked like Tony Cellini. He came to me…spoke to me in my quarters."

Morrow walked over to Commander Koenig and spoke directly into his ear in a low but forceful voice.

"Tony Cellini is dead. _You_ saw it. We found his monster and he went to fight it and this time he didn't get away. Now that's a fact."

Carter broke in, "Hey now wait a sec. Our little trip though the universe hasn't been exactly by the book," and the astronaut walked over to Koenig at the same time Paul walked away. "We've all seen some crazy stuff out here. Why not a ghost?"

Koenig appreciated the support and he nodded at Carter, but he also remembered how he himself had supported Cellini in front of their colleagues and a board of inquiry about his story of monsters and a murdered crew. Yet deep down he had not believed a word of it. Faith? Stubbornness? Or maybe just refusing to believe that a man who John Koenig admired could have deteriorated into insanity.

Perhaps Carter did the same thing now.

"Oh now that's just perfect, Alan," Morrow mocked. "Everything we've come in to contact with since we left Earth can be explained by science."

"Really, is that so?" Carter shot back and stepped closer to Morrow. The tension between the two started to fill the room. "You mean like surviving a black sun and having my rescue ship appear out of thin air half a galaxy away? Or a planet disappearing into thin vacuum at the exact moment our moon touched it?"

Dr. Mathias said, "This isn't helping."

"Hey," Carter turned around on Mathias. "I don't know much more than how to fly but I know when to believe my eyes. I saw all those things…and a lot more just like em'. And if there's one thing I've come to know during our crazy ride through all of it, it's that John Koenig isn't given to making up ghost stories."

"You know what I'm saying, Alan." Morrow sneered.

"Yeah, I know what you're saying. You're saying the Commander is either crazy or lying."

Morrow took a big step at Alan and clenched his fists.

"That's not what I'm saying and you know it!"

"Paul!" Koenig growled, and then softer, "Alan…enough. I don't' know exactly what I saw. Only…only whatever it was it took the shape of Tony Cellini."

Mathias crossed his arms and asked, "Okay, why him? Why Cellini?"

Koenig touched his forehead as if dealing with a head ache.

"He said…it said something about a strong image. I have to believe…" Koenig snapped his fingers. "Yes, Cellini was a friend of mine. With all that happened both before, with the Ultra Probe, and then later here on Alpha..."

Mathias jumped ahead, "Your strong feelings about Cellini stood out among all your other memories."

"Yes, that's it," Koenig said. "Maybe we're not dealing with the ghost of Tony Cellini; maybe we're dealing with some entity that's using my memories to communicate with me."

"Or maybe," Morrow said, "you've been injured and those strong memories are causing you to hallucinate."

Carter argued, "Now wait one second—"

"No," Koenig intervened. "No, Alan. Paul is right. That is one possibility."

"You are still registering unusual brain wave patterns," Dr. Mathias said. "That is probably tied in to this."

"So there are two possibilities," Morrow glared at Alan and then the Commander. "Either you are being visited by some entity or you are hallucinating."

Koenig chewed on that statement for several long seconds and then whispered, "Yes."

Dr. Mathias concluded, "Then you are not fit to be in Command. Not yet."

"How do you figure that?" Carter blurted.

Morrow started to answer: "Because he's either hallucinating…"

Koenig finished, "Or some_thing_ is trying to manipulate me."

---

Bergman spoke into the glowing ball of energy that served as the outpost side of Volgron's Quantum tunnel: "A little while longer yet. Probably a couple of hours. But everything is fine on this end."

Joan Conway's voice came in return. She sounded soft and distant but easy enough to understand.

"Understood. I will let Main Mission know."

Volgron walked over to him.

"So what do you think, Professor Bergman?"

Victor waved at the tunnel and said, "It's really quite amazing. I don't understand the whole concept yet. But I don't suspect I ever will."

Volgron laughed and patted Victor on the shoulder, saying, "With time, Professor, with time. You are a man of science, and as you know to take the next step in understanding one must take the step before. I'm afraid my technology is several steps ahead of yours, but eventually you will find this technology as mundane and ordinary as you find your own spaceships and reactors."

Victor nodded, politely, and walked to the railing of the outpost. He stared out at the orbs of light racing around as if they were small solar systems. He did not feel as if he looked at the expanse of space. Instead the view from the outpost felt more intimate, as if Volgron had boxed off his tiny little corner of existence.

"I am puzzled," Bergman admitted. "I suppose I did not expect these sights."

"You are at the heart of the nebula," Volgron repeated. "It is a chaotic yet wonderful place. If not for my force screens we would not last a millisecond."

"And you are alone?" Helena asked as she finished reviewing environmental data on her portable scanner.

"Yes, yes," the alien answered. "I am a solitary researcher. I find that every molecule of the universe tells a story. Every piece an adventure."

Bergman chuckled lightly, pointed his finger kindly at Volgron and noted, "Yes, yes, well I would imagine that right here you get to see those molecules smashing apart at nearly the speed of light. The very building blocks of the universe. You know, now, I was thinking, with your quantum tunnel technology your understanding of sub-atomic mechanics must be centuries ahead of our own. Why we aren't even sure exactly what force holds atoms together," and he clenched his two hands together, intertwining the fingers. "It's still a mystery to us, but I'm sure not to you."

Volgron shifted and replied, "Professor Bergman you are a curious lot. If only we had the time. Suffice to say that you can not understand what you think of as the infinity of outer space without first understanding the infinity of the small."

"The infinity of the small?" Helena asked.

"Why yes," Victor smiled and scratched the top of his head as he spoke. "If one were to travel far enough one would eventually hit the outer rim of our expanding universe. But if you want no boundaries, look to the small. After all, you can always cut something in half."

Volgron laughed.

"Oh Professor, you are a wise one indeed. I look forward to spending time with you once we begin the transfer process. That is, if Dr. Russell's readings are acceptable."

Helena glanced at her scanner again.

"The environmental findings are acceptable. There is no reason why our people can't use your outpost as a transfer point. There are some differences in the atmosphere here, but nothing dangerous. However, I must do a more detailed scan to understand the effects of traveling through your tunnel. I could do that myself but…" and she glanced to Victor.

Volgron continued her thought for her: "I think, Professor, that the doctor needs a test subject."

"What? Oh, yes, of course."

Helena told him, "I took a complete medical read out of you before we left Alpha. Now I have to run a diagnostic on you here, to gauge the changes in your body chemistry. This will take some time."

Victor glanced at Volgron like a school kid hoping for a reprieve when told to put away his toys and tend to his studies.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but the good doctor must do her work. Besides, I still have a great deal of computations to complete if we are going to proceed."

Victor sighed, rubbed his ear lobe, and relented, "Ah, yes, well, I suppose I will be the guinea pig for a while."

---

David Kano sipped a cup of coffee while sitting at his console at the center of Main Mission. He stopped mid-drink, stared at a reading on his array, and then hurriedly punched several buttons.

Morrow sat at his console and Sandra at hers. They both saw the change in Kano's demeanor and shared a smile; the type of smile they often shared at Kano's expense. He was, they knew, a little too attached to his computer. Their smiles faded, however, when he jumped up from his console and walked quickly to the bank of computers situated under the Main Mission observation balcony. There he punched in more numbers and received a print out in return.

"What is it, Kano?"

The man drifted away from the computer banks reading the read out.

"Kano?" Paul repeated.

"It's the latest analysis from computer," he stammered. "According to this, the shield is drawing far more power than originally anticipated."

Paul's face drew tight and he nearly shouted, "What? What are you talking about?"  
"It's right here, Paul," Kano sounded nearly apologetic. "As a precaution computer is running a constant analysis of shield integrity and power usage. There has been a sharp increase in the amount of power necessary to maintain the shield."

Sandra broke in, "But computer checked and re-checked the data before we entered the nebula. How could computer make such a mistake?"

"Computer does not make mistakes," Kano defended.

"Your computer," Morrow shot as he understood the print out's conclusions for himself, "obviously misinterpreted the data. And because of that—"

"Computer does not misinterpret data! There was no mistake. It is impossible for computer to have made a mistake! The data must have been wrong to begin with."

"Or," Sandra said, "Something has changed since we entered the nebula."

Paul hurried to his work station. Kano followed him.

"Computer," Paul said and the main viewing screen turned on to black. "How long until the moon exits the Pulsar wind?"

The computer spoke in a monotone, vaguely female voice while block letters appeared on the screen.

THE MOON WILL EXIT THE NEBULA IN SIXTY-TWO HOURS AND FOURTEEN MINUTES.

Paul licked his lips and asked, "Computer, how long until the shield fails?"

Computer did not answer right away. Perhaps in that bundle of circuits and wires lived some sense of the dramatic.

THE POWER REQUIREMENTS OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SHIELD WILL EXCEED GENERATING CAPACITY IN FORTY-TWO HOURS, THIRTEEN MINUTES.

---

Helena gave Victor a stern look but he walked away from her anyhow, moving to the portal to answer a call from Alpha.

"Yes, Joan, we're here."

"Professor, Paul Morrow has requested your return as soon as possible," came the distant but still understandable reply.

Volgron, who was standing along one wall apparently examining his strange instruments, heard the exchange and hurried over to listen.

Bergman asked, "Is there a problem, Joan?"

"It's the shield, Professor. It is drawing more energy than anticipated. Computer now estimates it will fail twenty hours before we leave the danger zone."

Volgron interjected, "Oh dear, that is bad news. Bad news indeed," and he paced about on his big legs in a manner that appeared nervous or upset.

"Joan," Helena stepped to the portal. "I am almost done with my medical tests. Tell Paul I'll hurry but it will take about another hour to finish the tests."

Volgron said, "Is that wise? Dr. Russell, given the situation we should begin work on the power conduit as quickly as possible. My quantum tunnel may be more than a way home for you; it may now be the only way for you to survive."

"Assuming we can survive the process," she countered in the same stern doctor's voice she used with uncooperative patients. "It will only take a short time for me to complete my tests."

Volgron appeared ready to protest but Victor intervened, "I'm afraid she's right. Besides…we can spare another hour to do this right."

"Time, Professor Bergman," Volgron pointed out, "is something that can rarely be spared."

---

John Koenig stood in his quarters, alone, half of the chamber in darkness due to the base-wide power cut backs, the other half illuminated by the blue shine glowing through the windows.

He felt helpless. He knew Alpha was in danger, but did not know if that danger came from Volgron or the ghost of Tony Cellini. He felt sure of his faculties, yet understood why he could not return to commanding.

The only thing he knew to be absolute truth was that Alpha was caught in the middle of something; something larger and more complex than the dangerous rays of the nebula. The answer eluded him; hidden in shadows of doubt and a cloud of mystery.

He felt the lightheadedness return. This time a buzzing came with it. The buzzing of voices. First a low murmur starting in the accent of Tony Cellini; the ghost in his head. Then growing into a chorus of a hundred Tony Cellinis.

Koenig raised his hands to his ears but that did not help, the voices were in his head…screaming and shouting and all saying the same exact thing; asking the same question.

_Where is Helena?_

Faster the same question came, over and over and over again. He staggered around his quarters nearly stumbling over a chair and then a table. The voice of a thousand Tony Cellinis asking over and over…

_Where is Helena?...Where is Helena?...Where is Helena?_

"Stop it…stop it!"

The video screen on his Commpost came to life, first with a burst of static as if hit with a flood of electricity, and then a black screen where block letters appeared one by one.

W…H….E…R…E…I…S…H…E…L…E...N…A…?

"Why are you asking this? I don't know where she is!"

Through the chaos exploding inside his head he tried to answer as he remembered, "She's with Volgron!"

But he could only speak in grunts and growls because the screams in his head overpowered his strength.

_Where is Helena? Where is Helena? Where is Helena? Where is Helena? Where is Helena? Where is Helena? Where is Helena? Where is Helena?_

The monitor on the Commpost flashed over and over again: WHERE IS HELENA? WHERE IS HELENA? WHERE IS HELENA?

At that moment as he twisted in agony at the confusion and screams and voices repeating over and over again before his eyes and inside his head, John Koenig managed to realize one thing; realize it through the chaos; realize it despite his sapping strength and the invaders in his mind. He realized that the answer to that one question would be an answer to _all_ his questions.

WHERE IS HELENA?


	4. Chapter 4

"Forty hours," Paul Morrow leaned and put both hands on the conference table to emphasize the point. "We have forty hours until the shield fails."

"More precisely," Professor Bergman corrected from his position at one of those conference table chairs. "We have forty hours until we will be unable to supply the necessary power to keep the shield running."

"What's the difference?" Paul sneered. "The result is the same."

"Ah, well, see now there _is_ a difference," Bergman lectured and he glanced at the other two seated at the conference table: Kano and Helena. "What has happened is not a failure of the shield or its implementation, but an incorrect assessment of power requirements. And that leads to another question," and he looked directly at Kano. "How did we get this wrong?"

"Computer is not at fault," Kano defended.

"Oh, yes, of course, computer is infallible," Morrow growled angrily. "You're going to blame the data. Well we checked and re-checked all of our sensor data. It was correct. We measured the nebula correctly. We gave that information to computer and you told us the shield would hold; that we could generate the power. Well your computer was wrong. _Dead_ wrong."

"That is not what has happened," Kano did not look Paul in the eye; the man was too red-faced and spoiling for a fight for that. Instead he almost pleaded with the more reasoned mind of Victor Bergman. "The data has changed. Computer estimates that the forces acting on the shield have increased dramatically. This is causing the increased power drain."

"What?" Paul snapped. "That's impossible."

Bergman waved a hand at Paul in a gesture suggesting he calm down and addressed Kano, "David, what you're saying is that the Pulsar wind increased after we entered the nebula?"

"The stress on the shield has increased. Computer can not determine the exact nature of that stress."

Helena asked, "Did our presence in the nebula somehow change the Pulsar's output?"

"That's not possible," Paul insisted.

"Helena," Victor explained, "compared to the forces inside the nebula, the moon is…is a drop of water splashing in the ocean. We are so comparatively small and insignificant compared to the size and power of this area of space that it is nearly impossible that our presence could have any effect."

"Nevertheless," Helena pointed out, "something changed when we entered the nebula. There _was_ a reaction."

Kano said, "Dr. Russell is correct. The sensor data that Paul and Sandra produced after monitoring the nebula may have been accurate, but the forces have changed since we've been here."

"What are you saying, Kano?" Paul asked with a small measure of restraint in his voice.

"He's saying," Bergman answered for the computer specialist, "that it's as if our shield is under assault."

That brought a powerful silence to the room.

After a moment, Kano agreed with the Professor.

"Computer did not characterize the increased force as such, but the Professor may be correct. It is as if the energy hitting our shield has increased in an attempt to breach that shield."

"What? That doesn't make any sense," Paul reacted.

Kano, feeling empowered by the Professor's support, spoke sternly to Paul, "It may not make sense to you, but it is what computer is reporting."

"Could it be Volgron causing this?" Helena asked meekly.

"I don't think so," Victor shook his head slowly. "That wouldn't add up. If he's causing our shield to fail, then why try and help us to leave?"

"What if he's not trying to help us," Paul wondered. "What if we can't trust him?"

"Again," Victor reasoned, "if he means us harm, then why contact us at all if our shield is in the process of failing? No, the way I see it even if he can't be trusted it does not make sense that he's attacking our shield from the outside. Furthermore, if he wants to destroy Alpha then he could just wait until our reactors are overloaded and the shield fails, no need for a complicated scheme."

Helena put things in perspective: "From what I am hearing, we have no choice now but to trust Volgron and his gateways."

"Well I don't like it," Paul grumbled.

"Neither do I," Bergman agreed. "But it seems as if we don't have any alternative."

---

Helena walked through the darkened corridors of Alpha. As she approached her destination she pulled out her Commlock and fumbled with it in her hands as she thought about what would come next.

Already too many questions and concerns filled her head. Now she had to deal with another. One more personal than all the rest.

She aimed her Commlock at the door and pushed a button. A second later the door opened, not from her device but only by the permission of John Koenig.

Helena walked into his quarters. Like the corridors, the lights glowed dimly at half-power but his room benefited from the shine of the shield above Alpha. Not a brilliant light but a dull blue that flickered in from outside.

She had hoped to find him resting in bed wearing his pajamas. Instead she found him in full uniform standing by those windows staring out at that blue glow; fixated by it, in fact. He appeared to be in a trance.

"John?"

The door to his quarters slid shut behind her and she walked halfway to him. He did not respond. His eyes remained focused on the colorful sights in the sky above the moon.

"John? Are you all right?"

She stepped closer. That finally grabbed his attention. He blinked, raised a hand over his eyes, and then turned to her.

"What? Oh, Helena, I'm glad you're here."

She tried to smile but her concern for his well-being caused her façade to falter.

"How are you feeling?"

"How am I feeling?" he repeated her question. "I don't know. I'm not sure about much at all these days."

"Dr. Mathias says that he can't find anything wrong with you."

"Except that I'm seeing ghosts, is that what you mean?"

She averted her eyes from his stare, turned about and drifted across his quarters a few paces, and faced him again.

"Physically he says there is nothing wrong with you. Except for some unusual brain wave readings, but nothing that suggests a long-term problem."

He replied, "You mean I should be fine after the big decisions are made. Maybe I'll be well enough to walk in our welcome-home parade."

"We don't have any choice," she countered. "The shield is failing. We've spent the last few hours checking and re-checking the data and trying to find a way to boost power output. No matter what we try, it now appears Victor's shield will fail in thirty-five hours. That's twenty hours before we leave the nebula."

"And your friend Volgron has the answer? He's going to send us back to Earth."

"I know it sounds—"

"Tell me, Helena, where were you a few hours ago?"

"What?" his question surprised her. "Oh, I think you mean when I left Alpha. I traveled across one of Volgron's Quantum Tunnels and visited his outpost."

He ran a hand over his eyes and considered her words as if he studied a complex equation.

"John, what is wrong?"

"That doesn't sound right. It doesn't feel right. Do you know what I'm saying?"

She shook her head.

"No, I don't. I only know that if we don't do something all of Alpha could be destroyed. Should we do nothing? Is that what you think?"

"What I think? What I think doesn't matter. I'm not in command, remember?"

"That's not fair, John."

"It doesn't matter," he walked closer to her. "What matters is that I'm close to the answer. I can…I can almost hear them. No, that's not right. I can almost see the answer. It's right in front of my eyes but I'm not seeing it."

"What answer? What is it you can't see?"

He turned away sharply and walked to the window. His eyes fixed on the blue light and the fantastic shining streaks above the shield; blocked by the shield.

"I don't know," and he whispered, "Don't worry about me. I'm more worried about you."

"John, we have to try Volgron's plan. It's our only hope."

He did not seem to hear her. The trance returned. His attention became fully focused on the sight outside his window.

"I'm close," he whispered to himself more than her. Did he even know she was still there? "I'm close to the answer…"

Helena could do no more. Not yet. She turned and left John Koenig alone in his quarters.

---

"You have worked wonders, Professor," Volgron complimented Victor as the alien examined a diagram of the electromagnetic shield at the conference table in the Commander's office. "Your shield is working most effectively."

"Well, yes, it appears so," Bergman flashed a smile of thanks in response to the compliment. "But our power supply is now the problem. It seems the forces acting on the nebula have increased since we entered."

Morrow—standing on Volgron's flank—spoke sharply in an obvious attempt to provoke a response: "It's almost as if someone—or some thing—is purposely trying to breach the shield. As if we're under attack."

The alien did respond but no one could be sure if his hesitation and stumbling came from what Paul said or his inability to grasp the language.

"What's that?" Volgron answered. "An attack, you say? Now that's a little paranoid, is it not? I've been in this nebula for a long time now and have never experienced anything like that."

"Well _we_ have," Paul continued. "And our shield is going to fail much sooner than originally estimated."

"Perhaps your estimates were incorrect."

Kano was not present, so Victor took up his cause with the slow shake of his head and calm words: "No, that does not seem to be the case. In fact, we are very much convinced that conditions inside the nebula have changed. Now we are not sure exactly why, but some people are concerned that, well…" Bergman pinched his lips together and finished his sentence with a wide-eyed stare in the alien's direction. The thought came through loud and clear.

Volgron spread his arms and smiled.

"Professor. Victor. All of you. What possible reason could I have to threaten Alpha? In fact, I am offering you a way home."

"Forgive us," Helena said without actually asking for any forgiveness. "Our experience has taught us to proceed with caution."

"I understand completely," the alien responded. "But consider the situation. As you yourself have noted, my quantum tunneling technology is well above yours. Quite frankly, should I desire to harm Alpha I simply would open a tunnel with one end here and the other in the vacuum of space. Or a dozen other means of attack."

After a moment of silence Bergman relented, "Yes, well, I see your point."

"It is difficult for us," Helena told the alien. "We don't trust easily. I don't know if that is a weakness or a strength."

"But in this case," Paul jumped in, "we don't have any choice, now do we?" And he glared at Volgron.

The alien said, "You do have a choice. I cannot force you, nor would I dare try."

Victor changed directions.

"Let's see, then. What do we need to do to make this work?"

"It's simple, really," Volgron explained. "We need to siphon energy from the winds of the Pulsar nebula. Those winds are currently bouncing off your shield and back into space. This is an incredible energy source that I often use to power my own equipment. But my collection resources, by themselves, cannot product the energy necessary to open a tunnel all the way back to your home world."

Paul concluded, "But we can?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Volgron told them. "I've examined your shield towers and the answer is rather simple. We set up a collection point atop one of them and channel the energy to my gateway in your nuclear generating area. From there I will establish a transfer point through the gateway to my equipment."

"I don't understand," Helena responded. "Do we have equipment that is compatible with yours?"

"Not precisely," Volgron said.

Bergman—on the strength of several previous conversations on the matter—summarized the plan: "If you think of the cosmic rays bombarding us as a rainstorm, we will set up a hose atop one of the towers like a, hmmm, well like a rain gutter, and channel a small fraction of this energy across the moon's surface and in to Nuclear Generating Area Three. There the water will come out again and flow into Volgron's gateway."

"It will be a strain on your primitive technology," Volgron said and, sensing Paul's glare over his shoulder he turned and nodded saying, "No offense intended, I assure you. But I calculate we will be able to succeed long enough for me to generate a second gateway from my outpost to Earth."

"And we just walk down one hallway from Area Three to your outpost," Helena laid it out. "Then take another door from your outpost to Earth?"

"Yes. That is essentially correct," Volgron agreed.

"Rather straight forward," Paul admitted.

Victor echoed, "Almost mundane."

Helena whispered, "And ingenious."

---

Paul held court in Main Mission. All of the important department heads were present in the now-crowded room. However, Volgron had returned to his outpost to make the necessary arrangements on his end.

Everyone in Main Mission listened to Paul but everyone also kept an eye on the clock. They all knew that in less than thirty hours the electromagnetic shield would fail and Alpha would be exposed to the chaotic and destructive rays of the Pulsar wind nebula.

"Computer will provide Technical Section with a list and measurements of the necessary cables and routes. A small converter device will be positioned atop one of the shield towers to gather particles from the nebula. These will be routed through the cables and in to Nuclear Generating Area Three."

Joan Conway stepped forward from the crowd and asked, "How will we run the cables through the alien's gateway?"

Bergman answered, "Well, we won't, actually. Our cables will simply open to the gateway and shoot the collected particles through. The tunnel acts not only as a conduit for people but for energy, as well."

Alan Carter spoke up, "Seems to me that we're talking about a mile or so worth of cable. Now how are you going to lay that fast enough using lunar buggies and pumpkin suits?"

Paul glanced at Bergman who nodded to him. Paul then spoke to Alan, "Actually Allan, the most efficient manner will be to use a cargo Eagle with a cable spool. That's the quickest way possible. If we do it on the ground exclusively it may take more time than we have."

Sandra jumped in, "Fly an Eagle? And go above the shield?"

"Not exactly," Bergman said.

"Oh I see," Carter got the picture. "You need someone to fly an Eagle under the shield. Say, do you want me to fly through the hallways right to technical section, too?"  
The crowd chuckled. Paul offered a small smile because he knew the seriousness of the request.

"No Alan. Just under the shield, can you do it?"

Sandra gasped and protested, "At such low altitude…that would be very dangerous. Is it even possible?"

Carter took a step forward and spoke only to Professor Bergman.

"You trust this Volgron character? Is this the only way?"

Bergman rubbed his chin and answered, "Trust him? That might be saying too much. I've reviewed the concept and it is sound. But frankly speaking, this appears to be our only way. And it is, after all, a way back to Earth."

Alan said to Bergman, "I suppose that'll have to be good enough." He turned to Paul. "You need me to fly an Eagle…well that's what I do. You tell me it could get me back to Earth…well, I'll thread a needle with any ship you've got if it'll get me home," and Carter stepped forward, extended his hand, and Paul shook it firmly.

Paul addressed the assembled, "This will take time. And time is something we have very little of. Power delivery to the shield will fail in less than thirty hours. It will take technical section at least five hours to prepare the necessary cable and deliver it to the Eagle hanger. Professor Bergman will oversee Technical Section for the construction of the converter based on specifications provided from Volgron. We estimate ten hours for construction and limited testing before it can be delivered. After it is delivered, Alan you will take off with a cargo Eagle and deploy the cable between Alpha and the shield tower. That flight will take approximately two hours to safely deploy the cables along the most efficient path."

"So in ten hours then," Carter summarizes. "That's when we'll be ready to get going on this?"

Paul went on, "As for everyone else…Operation Exodus is in effect. Communicate with all personnel in each of your sections. As you are already aware, we will be walking home to Earth."

He let that sink in long enough to produce several chuckles.

"So pack light," Morrow finished. "Only take items that can be carried on your person."

Sandra asked, "Is it safe? This way of travel?"

Paul turned to Dr. Russell who answered as best she could.

"I did a series of extensive medical tests and I see no reason to expect any ill-effects other than some light headedness. Otherwise…as Paul said, it will be just like stepping through a door to Volgron's outpost, then another door to Earth."

"It is that simple?" Sandra asked.

Dr. Russell offered only a smile for she knew that nothing was ever as simple as it might seem.

---

John Koenig stood in his quarters staring out the window to the lunar surface. For hours he had listened to the announcements over the Comm system of preparations being made, equipment delivered, and resources allocated. Dr. Mathias had stopped in a little while before and had said something about 'final steps' and 'power conservation' but the Commander paid little attention to any of it; he was too focused on the sky above Alpha; that sky beyond the glowing blue shield; the streams of rays and fast-as-light collisions ripping, tearing, and grinding at the fabric of the universe.

The answer lay there, but just out of sight. He could not quite see the truth. Something kept that truth at bay.

Over those hours of waiting and watching he had heard the voice of Tony Cellini but that voice sounded weak and distant; blocked by interference.

_John Koenig…hear me…_

More power shut downs; his quarters went completely dark with only the glow from the Commpost inside.

_Hear me…_

Finally—after hours of standing and staring—John turned away from the window. He walked across his living quarters and used his Commlock to open the sliding door to an empty, dark corridor.

He followed their calling. Followed it through the corridors and even into a travel tube. Along the way he past a trio of hurrying technicians pushing a cart with a big square mass of wires; he saw personnel talking nervously in the halls wondering 'is this safe?' and 'could this really be a way home?'.

They took little notice of him; each appeared overwhelmed with their jobs and their self-interest to give more than a passing thought to their Commander; particularly not when that Commander appeared focused on his own task.

Koenig reached one of the outer air locks at the outer most rim of the base. There he found a storage closet holding two orange and yellow space suits. He chose one and examined it carefully despite seeing a 'Pass' inspection sticker which meant a technician had certified the suit safe for use. Koenig checked the air lines and the tank volume; he examined the thermal lining and temperature controls. He knew the line between a safe EVA on the moon's surface and death to be as thin as the thinnest piece of suit.

Satisfied, he put the space suit on, activated the automatic decompression sequence, closed the inner bulkhead and listened to the hiss of air being sucked from the chamber.

A moment later, the outer door opened and John Koenig stepped onto the rocky surface of the moon.

Meanwhile, Main Mission buzzed with activity. The communication monitors were full of incoming reports and out going orders. Paul stood at his work station and examined a clip board provided by Tanya. He signed off on the requisition form and returned it to her with a smile; a smile meant to convey confidence.

Victor Bergman's face popped on one of the smaller video screens beneath the main monitor.

"Paul, we've completed our tests on the converter. It is working as expected. I've turned it over to the technical team; they're taking it out now."

"Good," he replied. "That's the first thing that's gone according to plan."

"The cables aren't in position yet?" Bergman guessed.

"Not yet," Paul answered. "Alan experienced a thruster failure on take off; the repairs cost us thirty extra minutes. He's past the half-way point on the cable but we're still running behind schedule."

"That's to be expected," Bergman consoled over the video feed. "We still have some leeway with the time."

"I prefer precision. Main Mission out."

Paul punched one button and Victor's image disappeared. He punched another and brought the main view screen to life. It displayed a cargo Eagle flying just below the blue glow of the protective shield. Instead of a magnetic hoist or a mechanical clamp, this cargo Eagle carried a large round spool where the passenger compartment might normally be. From that spool drooped a line of thick black cable.

"Alan, what's your status?"

Carter—wearing a space suit and sitting in the pilot's seat of an Eagle—appeared on one of the smaller view screens.

"Slow going. She's difficult to handle at this altitude between the moon's gravity, the energy emissions of the shield, and the weight of this cable."

"Clock is ticking, Alan."

"Don't worry about my end. You just make sure room service gets my bags to the curb. I'm planning on checking out today."

"Will do. Main Mission out."

The small screen went dark. The big one monitored the Eagle's progress.

Sandra drifted to Paul's side.

"We will complete the process on time, will we not?"

Paul responded with a smile.

---

John Koenig came to small plain a few hundred yards from the air lock he had exited. He glanced around through the limited vision of his helmet. Behind him and to his left he spied a flurry of activity around one of the towers generating the protective shield. Not far from there he also saw an Eagle ship moving slowly out from Alpha toward that tower.

Then he checked his immediate surroundings. He stood just inside the protective cover of the shield. Behind him rested Alpha, safe under that umbrella. Ahead of him a sheet of raining particles of silver and white.

He raised a hand to his helmet as if trying to touch his head but could only to touch helmet. Koenig swooned, nearly falling. His body glowed as a blob of green energy pulsated from his body for several long seconds before subsiding.

_John Koenig…it is better for us here._

He turned around and saw the image of Tony Cellini dressed this time in blue Alphan pajamas. No protective suit. No sign of distress. His old friend standing on the surface of the moon as calmly as if they stood in the rec room waiting to play a game of chess.

"I felt drawn here. Did you do that?"

_Yes. Out here, near the edge of your shield, is easier for us to talk._

"Okay. I came. Now who are you?"

_You would not understand._

"Try me."

_Think of us as…as what you would consider guardians._

"Guardians? Of what? Why do you say 'us'…I see one of you."

_You see what we have made you see. We exist only in your mind, John Koenig. To communicate with you…we found this image; you had strong feelings about this person. Very clear in your mind yet very conflicted as well._

"He was a friend of mine. Someone…someone I let down."

_We entered your body before your shield was in place. We are trapped here, just as the others are trapped. Your shield…a respite…_

"Who do you mean? Do you mean Volgron? Is he with you?"

_Your moon should not be here. Your shield has interfered; separated us at the moment of victory. Your presence aids the others._

John waved his hand in the air and insisted, "We can't control our moon. We have no intention of aiding anyone. We just want to survive our passage through the nebula. Do you understand that?"

The entity in the form of Tony Cellini turned his head and glanced at the activity around the distant tower, including an approaching Eagle.

_Your work is of their design. They will use the energy of the nebula to enhance their defenses…to prepare a counter-strike…to expand their intrusion. It can not be allowed._

"I don't understand what you're saying!"

_Your language is difficult. We have trouble with the words…with conveying meaning. Understand, John Koenig, where the one named Helena went and you will understand fully._

"What is it you want me to do?"

_Lower the shield, John Koenig. It is a barrier to us that we cannot penetrate. Let us through before the others have you complete their work._

"Alpha will be destroyed!"

_A small sacrifice to make for the protection of all existence._

"I can't do that. Not without knowing more."

The entity looked toward the tower again as the Eagle made its final approach.

_This must not be allowed…_

---

Carter worked the controls slowly but with a firm hand.

"Almost there…c'mon you beautiful bird, nice and easy."

"Alan," Morrow's voice came through. "You're in position, just drop the cable."

"Right. Easy enou—"

The Eagle jolted side to side. Bands of energy surged through the cockpit.

"Alpha! What the hell—"

"Alan, some kind of energy surge from beyond the shield. It punched through and hit you!"

Alan fought the controls as the Eagle tumbled. Whatever had hit him, it continued to do its work as the controls bucked, thrusters fired and cut and fired again. He felt the artificial gravity system ripple and stall.

"Is the shield holding?" Carter shouted through the closed visor of his helmet.

"The shield is holding. Alan…cut the cable and get out of there!"

"I'm…I'm trying…"

Carter leaned forward and stretched his arm toward a big red button on the console. G-forces conspired to thwart his reach but with one big lunge his finger tip found the switch at the exact moment the force of the attack finally overcame the Eagle's systems…

…The cable cut loose and fell to the surface. John Koenig could see that from his position. He saw sparks all along the Eagle's frame that glittered like a hundred tiny explosions. He watched as the craft flipped side ways and then shot off over Alpha with an uncontrolled rocket boost. Something had sent its systems entirely out of control.

"What have you done!"

_This could not be permitted,_ the entity responded as the image of Tony Cellini faded away. _For the sake of everything._

He watched the ship turn sharp, dip just above the top of Alpha, and fly past the base on the other side a hundred yards from where he stood.

"Alan!"

The Eagle hit the surface of the moon, bounced, and then came to rest—dented and smashed—in a wall of rocks.


	5. Chapter 5

The moon held one-third the gravity of Earth but trying to run across its rocky terrain while wearing a bulky space suit proved a difficult chore. John Koenig—for the second time—stopped to take a breath. The monitoring systems in his suit warned of increased oxygen use and a racing heart beat. Yet for all his effort the crashed Eagle barely looked closer. Nonetheless, he knew a rescue team from Alpha was still minutes away for they did not dare risk sending an Eagle; particularly not after what had happened to Alan.

He took a deep breath and bound forward, leaping a small boulder in the process.

Back at Main Mission Paul attempted to reach Alan yet again.

"Eagle One, do you copy? Alan, can you hear me?"

Sandra reported: "His onboard computer is still relaying data. It appears the hull of the command module has not been compromised. That is good news."

Kano poured a sour note on her optimism: "Computer estimates only a thirty percent chance that Alan survived the impact."

Paul snapped, "You'll excuse me if I don't take computer's estimates to heart."

Kano opened his mouth but said nothing.

Paul Morrow, however, did speak again, this time much softer.

"Sorry, David."

Kano nodded and swiveled about in his console so as to face the main viewer.

Morrow transmitted, "Rescue team one, are you in position?"

The voice of a male nurse responded, "We have left the air lock and are on our way. We should reach the crash site in ten minutes."

Victor Bergman's face appeared on a smaller monitor below the main viewer.

"Paul…any word?"

Morrow shook his head.

"No. Nothing. He went down pretty far out. It will be a while."

"Yes, I see," Bergman said. "Paul, I hate to bring this up, but—"

"Yes, Professor, he delivered the cable. Just like he said he would. If something was trying to stop us with that energy surge, it failed. Alan came through."

Bergman nodded and said, "I don't think any of us doubted Alan would get the job done. Let's just hope…well, let us know when you know."

Morrow nodded and switched off the video screen and turned his attention to Sandra.

"What's our status on the link up?"

"Technical section reports the converter is being moved in to position now. If all goes as scheduled, we should have the cable link up within the hour."

"Kano?"

"Seventeen hours and twenty-six minutes until our power output cannot meet the needs of the electromagnetic shield. Thirty-six hours and fifty-four minutes until we exit the nebula."

Sandra observed, "We are cutting it close."

"Yes," Morrow agreed. "Tanya? What's our status on Operation Exodus?"

"All personnel will be ready to evacuate in four hours. Security is coordinating a departure schedule. Paul, as you instructed, Technical and Command sections will be last to go."

"Time for completion?"

"We've streamlined things a bit," she offered a small smirk. "It is now believed that we can complete entry into the tunnel within six hours from start."

Paul sighed, "If I'm doing the math right, it sounds like we'll have seven ours to spare. Whatever will we do?"

"I'll bring a deck of cards," Kano quipped. "You said you'd give me a chance to win back what I lost in chess."

"It's a date," Morrow responded and then, in as cheerful as a voice he could muster, "Tell you what; we'll play the first hand on Earth. It'll give us something to do once we get back there."

Dr. Mathias' image appeared on-screen below the main viewer.

"Paul," his voice carried a wave of panic. "I just went to check on the Commander. He's not in his quarters."

"It's not like he was confined there, doctor. Is there a reason to think he's a danger to himself or anyone else?"

"Paul…you heard what he was talking about before. Yes, I am concerned."

Morrow nodded and activated another channel on his communications board.

Down in Nuclear Generating Area Number Three, Volgron conversed with Professor Bergman, Helena, and Joan Conway near a device just outside of the glowing yellow gateway. This device resembled a small jet engine, almost, about three feet long and half that length high, all resting atop a y-shaped holder.

"This is what we connect to?" Joan asked.

"It has been constructed to interface with your cables," the alien explained. "Forgive the machine's crude design, I had little time and needed to find a marriage between your somewhat primitive technology and my own. This will have to do."

Paul's image and voice on the nearby Commpost interrupted their discussion.

"Dr. Russell. Is the Commander with you?"

"John? You mean John? No, Paul. He is supposed to be in his quarters."

"Well he's not. Dr. Mathias just checked and he's nowhere to be found. I'll try and run a trace through his Commlock."

Volgron shifted uneasily. Conway left the group to more closely examine the strange contraption.

"Is something amiss?"

The question surprised both Helena and Victor, the latter of whom explained, "Two of our friends are in trouble. You know about Alan's Eagle—we've had no word on his condition."

Volgron jumped, "But he did complete his assignment?"

"Yes he did," Helena said, sharply. "But something happened to his ship and he has crashed. Possibly hurt…or worse. And now our Commander has gone missing."

"Ah yes, well I am sure your pilot friend is fine."

"Speaking of that," Bergman rubbed his chin. "His crash was caused by a kind of energy surge right at the shield boundary. From what we saw, it almost appears as if the surge was an intentional attempt to stop his work. Is there any way you could help us understand what happened?"

Volgron scratched his thick head of tangled hair and answered, "I'm afraid not, Professor. However, the energy currents inside the nebula can be quite unpredictable. I am certain this was merely an unfortunate coincidence. Now as to your Commander, was he not the fellow who was outside be fore your shield was activated? The one exposed to the Pulsar winds?"

Helena had explained the situation to Volgron during her visit to his outpost. She confirmed the alien's guess with the nod of her head and said, "His name is John Koenig. He is our Commander. If not for his accident outside he would be the one in charge of Alpha and our dealings with you."

"He hasn't been quite right since coming back," Bergman spoke more to himself than to Volgron but the alien heard and took a keen interest.

"Is that so? In what way?"

Bergman thought this an opportunity to learn more about Volgron and the nebula and what might have happened to John and saw no harm in sharing information.

"Quite frankly, he has suffered from what we believe to be hallucinations. It is possible that the nebula wind affected his mind. It is quite troubling. Have you ever experienced anything like it?"

Volgron quickly replied, "No. I'm sorry I cannot be of any help in that matter. And while I appreciate the importance of these two comrades of yours, we do need to proceed if we are to be successful for the whole of Alpha."

"The connection will be completed in a short time," Bergman assured. Volgron did not appear calmed by that assurance.

"I see. No reason to wait, however," and he turned to Helena. "My dear Doctor Russell, would you be so kind as to accompany me to my outpost? Now that the moment has come upon us I would feel much better with someone from Alpha monitoring the situation on my end."

The request surprised Helena who shared a glance with Bergman before answering.

"If you feel it is necessary, yes. But I can't leave until I know what Alan Carter's condition is, and where John Koenig has gone."

"I am certain that your people—"

"No," she insisted. "I'm not going anywhere until I have those answers."

Volgron sighed.

"Very well, Dr. Russell. I shall wait with you until your friends have been recovered. I just hope that your shield decides to show as much patience."

---

John Koenig reached Alan's crashed Eagle. He slipped past the gigantic spool affixed to the frame and accessed the outer door to the command module. It opened easily enough and he entered the small compartment between those command module doors. Once the outer twin bulkheads sealed, he pressurized the chamber and then opened the inner door.

There he found Alan Carter slumped unconscious in his restraints in the pilot's chair of the Eagle. His helmet had been badly damaged by the impact and even before he removed it John saw a river of blood coming from Carter's forehead.

"Alan? Alan, can you hear me?"

No response. John checked the readings on the man's suit; weak pulse, weak respiration, low blood pressure. And it was easy to see why. The blood seeped from a gash on his forehead, uncontrolled.

Koenig accessed the emergency first aid kit located underneath the Eagle's console. There he found a heavy bandage and pressed firmly against the wound on Alan's head. The bandage quickly filled with blood but he did not hesitate; he grabbed another, and then another.

"Alan, you're losing too much blood, damn it. I'm trying…I'm trying to stop the bleeding…"

The third time proved effective; the bandage did not fill fully with blood but, in fact, stopped the loss. When satisfied, John retrieved a small spray can from the first aid kit and sprayed the wound with a temporary bandage, one that would not have worked had he not first stopped the deluge of blood.

Koenig checked his friend's vital signs again. Still weak, still dangerous. But stable.

A light near the door blinked to signify access from the outside. The compartment between bulkheads was pressurizing as the rescue team had finally reached the downed Eagle…

…In Nuclear Generating Area Three, Helena paced while Volgron watched in what Bergman thought might actually be a pout. Apparently the alien did not like waiting; in fact he seemed in quite a rush despite the fact that more time was needed to finish the job and begin transporting Alphans.

Conway, for her part, did not understand the gateway energy transfer device but had come to accept it. She worked with a Technical team to attach one end of a cable to the machine. Bergman knew that the other end of that cable was in the process of being attached to the energy collector and converter a great ways away atop one of the shield towers.

Paul appeared on the Commpost.

"Dr. Russell. We've found the Commander. He was…well he was at the Eagle crash site."

"Out on the surface of the moon?" Bergman nearly gasped. "How the devil did he get out there?"

"In a space suit, Professor," Morrow said and if it had been anyone other than Paul Morrow Bergman would have suspected sarcasm. "Apparently he wasn't far from the crash site and beat the rescue team there. Good thing he did; if he hadn't, Carter would have bled to death."

"Alan..?"

Morrow nodded. "He's going to make it. But he's going to be on his back for a few days. Looks like he'll be riding a wheel chair all the way to Earth. Bad concussion."

"I'll go take a look at him," Helena said and started to walk off.

"Wait now, Dr. Russell, I require you to come with me," Volgron nearly shouted.

Paul heard and replied, "Dr. Mathias is already at the air lock waiting to greet him. The medical team reports Alan is stable and in no further danger. Commander Koenig will be here at Main Mission in a few minutes. There's nothing for you to do here that we can't handle. But you've already been to Volgron's outpost; if he needs you…"

"Okay, okay," Helena waved her hands in surrender but did not know if she felt angry, happy, sad, or elated. Carter had survived; John had been found; and the project had not suffered a major set back. If all went according to plan she would be walking on Earth in a few hours.

_Walking with John? _

She shook herself from such thoughts and turned to Volgron.

"Okay then, I'm all yours."

"Just shout back if there's anything you need," Victor gave her a thumbs up as she approached the gateway. "I'll let you know when everything is a go on this end."

"Thank you for everything, Professor," Volgron said. "I will speak to you again shortly."

And with that, Helena followed the alien into the quantum tunnel.

---

John Koenig marched into Main Mission having discarded his pumpkin suit in exchange for his Commander's uniform. The heart of Alpha beat rapidly with Technicians and orderlies moving quickly about. Some were a part of the operation to collect and distribute power from the nebula to the alien's outpost. Others were busy preparing for the final phase of Operation Exodus: the evacuation of moon base Alpha.

Koenig pushed his way through the crowd to the ring of consoles facing the main viewer. Paul Morrow watched him come all the way.

"Commander, why were you out on the lunar surface?"

"That's not important. What is important is that you listen to me."

"I think it is important," Morrow repeated as he eyed John Koenig with an air of suspicion; suspicion for his sanity. Kano stood and Sandra walked to Paul's side. Tanya and others in Main Mission watched from greater distance.

"You don't trust me, is that it?" Koenig waved a hand first at Paul and then at the others who eyed him with that same disbelieving stare. "After all we've been through? After all that's happened before?"

Sandra tried to mediate: "You say you have seen Tony Cellini. But Commander, Tony died when we found the remains of the Ultra Probe."

Koenig pleaded to Sandra, "How many times, San? How many times do we have to see something new and unexplained before we start to trust our instincts. What do your instincts tell you? Do they tell you I am crazy? Did they tell you I was crazy when I said we had to let the moon collide with a planet? You didn't listen to me then and I was right. What if I'm right this time? What if it's not me you shouldn't be trusting, but Volgron?"

Morrow reacted, "No one hear trusts Volgron, Commander, but we have no choice. Our shield is failing. Alpha will be destroyed if we don't try and evacuate through his tunnel system. That's a fact we can all understand."

Koenig opened his mouth but a wave of weakness flowed through his entire body. He stumbled and placed a hand on a nearby console. When he looked up, Tony Cellini stood in the center of the ring of consoles near Kano's computer table. He wore his Ultra Probe jacket.

"He's right there!" Koenig pointed. The Alphans glanced about.

"Cellini?" Kano said, particularly bewildered because the Commander pointed in his direction.

"There's no one there, Commander. No one who isn't supposed to be," Morrow spoke plainly. "Certainly not Tony Cellini. He's been dead a long while now."

Koenig did not understand. He could see his old friend standing right there.

_They can not see us, John Koenig. This image appears only in your mind. It is of our construction using the chemical components you consider to be 'memory'._

He straightened up tall and looked around Main Mission. He saw his people staring at him in disbelief.

"I see him," Koenig admitted. "And you can't. But that doesn't make it any less real!"

"Yes it does," Morrow countered. "It makes him a hallucination, Commander. A hallucination in your mind. I'm sorry."

"Alpha is in danger. Why won't you listen to me? You can't trust Volgron!"

"We don't trust Volgron but we have no choice. We have to deal with reality," Morrow took a step closer to Koenig who actually retreated a pace. Paul pointed to the main viewer that depicted the work at the tower. "The shield is failing. That's reality. Alpha will be destroyed; that's a fact. No one is hallucinating that. We have no choice."

Sandra spoke more kindly, "Maybe, Commander, if you could tell us what is wrong?"

"I…" Koenig opened his mouth and then shut it. "I'm not quite sure. The answer…the answer is in front of me but I can't quite see it."

_You can see it, John Koenig. Look closer._

The Commander stared at the empty space in Main Mission where he saw the image of Tony Cellini.

_Where is Helena? _

Koenig turned to Paul and repeated the question.

"Where is Helena? Where has Dr. Russell gone?"

Morrow answered, "She's gone through to Volgron's outpost."

At first the answer puzzled Koenig, but then he had an idea. He raised his Commlock and hit a button.

"Computer, locate Dr. Helena Russell."

On his Commlock screen and on the Main Viewer the computer answered in letters and in voice: "DOCTOR HELENA RUSSELL IS IN NUCLEAR GENERATING AREA THREE."

Kano supplied more details, "That's where Volgron's tunnel originates. Computer is reading her last known location."

Koenig looked at Kano and then the image of Tony Cellini.

_Go. Find out where Helena is._

Koenig looked to Paul and told him, "I don't think so."

With that, John Koenig turned about and exited Main Mission through one of the archways to either side of the viewer. He moved at a fast walk.

"Paul? What should we do?" Sandra asked.

When he did not reply Kano took up the question: "Paul?"

"We had better go after him," Paul headed toward the exit with Kano in tow and called Sandra, "Have security intercept him."

John Koenig's fast walk turned into a jog. He felt the answer near. He saw the puzzle taking shape in his mind; the pieces fitting together in a disturbing, unbelievable pattern.

John Koenig was a Commander and an astronaut but first and foremost he was a scientist; a seeker of knowledge. He had spent his life trying to understand the universe and as he ran through the hallways of Alpha he saw everything he had once thought of as established fact start to break apart; shatter.

_Where is Helena? Where has she gone?_

Volgron…the entity inside his mind…the particles colliding in the violent winds of the Pulsar nebula…Victor's shield…all adding up to an unbelievable answer.

"John! Commander! Wait"

The voice came from Paul with Kano and a few others from Main Mission following in pursuit. Ahead waited the open doors of a travel tube…blocked by two security men like a net waiting to snag their catch.

They moved to intercept…

"Commander, stop! You are ordered to stop!"

…but Koenig pushed through, lowering his shoulder and knocking them aside and while this had been his intent, the force of his blows suggested an assist from something…perhaps an old friend. Whatever the case, the guards flew off to either direction, shaken but unhurt. Yet the move garnered Koenig entry into the travel tube. The doors slid shut just as Morrow and the others arrived.

As that travel tube sped away toward the nuclear generating sector, David Kano raised his Commlock.

"Computer, over ride Travel Tube—"

Paul pushed Kano's arm and Commlock down.

"No," he said.

"But we can stop him, Paul. Computer can shut down the travel tube."

Paul turned to Kano and said, "I'm not sure I want to stop him. Like he said, each time we've doubted John Koenig we ended up on the wrong side of things. Let's see what he has in mind. C'mon, we'll take an alternate route."

The group—including the dazed guards—headed off along a side corridor.

At the other end of that tube the twin doors opened and John Koenig exited. He had expected a greeting party of security guards but none emerged. He walked fast along the hall, made a series of turns, and approached the red doors of Nuclear Generating Area Three.

Those doors opened and he entered. Joan Conway—working atop the balcony above the reactor--was first to notice him. She descended to his level.

"Commander?"

Bergman stood with his back to the door, his eyes focused on the glob of yellow energy that comprised their end of Volgron's gateway. He turned fast when he heard Conway's voice.

"John? What are you—"

"Not now, Victor."

Bergman raised a hand to Koenig's chest as the Commander approached the gateway.

"I don't think you want to go through there."

"Is that where Helena went?"

"Yes."

The doors to the generating area opened again. This time Paul, Kano, and a pair of security guards rushed through. They stopped a few paces inside the door as Koenig tensed. It appeared they did not want to further antagonize what they saw as a crazed animal.

"Don't try and stop me, Paul."

"What is it you're planning on doing, Commander?"

"I'm trying to find Helena."

Bergman pointed to the gateway and explained, "She went through there a little while ago. It's a Quantum Tunnel, John. Fantastic technology. It took Helena to Volgron's outpost at the heart of the nebula. That's the path we're going to follow to leave Alpha and return to Earth."

Koenig did not accept the answer.

"Light years away, you say? Is that what we're supposed to believe?"

Paul, from across the room, spoke but with a waver in his voice, "It's the truth."

"No," Koenig said. "That's what Volgron told you."

"Then where is she, John?" Bergman patronized.

"Let's ask computer," the Commander answered and raised his Commlock. "Computer, locate Dr. Helena Russell."

In voice and text computer answered, DOCTOR HELENA RUSSELL IS INSIDE NUCLEAR GENERATING AREA NUMBER THREE.

Before anyone could protest Koenig said, "Computer tracks us through locator beacons in our Commlocks."

Paul and Kano came closer; the guards hung back. Morrow suggested, "Computer is merely tracking Helena's last position on Alpha."

"If she wasn't on Alpha," Koenig said, "computer would tell us that. But computer says she is right here, in this room, right now!"

Bergman—still patronizing—glanced about and, after not seeing her, jabbed a finger toward John and asked, "Well then, where is she hiding? Hmm?"

"Victor," Koenig said in a stern voice. "I expected more from you."

"I'm sorry, John, it's just that, well, I've been to his outpost. I've seen the heart of the nebula."

"Did you? Is that what you think you saw?"

That caused Bergman to hesitate, but before he could reply Koenig spoke into his Commlock again.

"Computer, locate Doctor Helena Russell's position in relation to my position. Where is she; detail position to within two meters."

No one spoke for three long seconds while computer made the necessary calculations. Then the voice and letters came over the Commander's Commlock as well as the nearby Commpost.

DOCTOR HELENA RUSSELL IS LOCATED THREE METERS IN FRONT OF COMMANDER KOENIG.

The Commander stood to the side of Volgron's glowing gateway facing the massive silver vault door to the reactor.

"Computer. _Specific_ location. Characterize Dr. Russell's whereabouts."

DOCTOR HELENA RUSSELL IS LOCATED INSIDE THE REACTOR IN NUCLEAR GENERATING AREA NUMBER THREE.

---

Helena walked across the platform of Volgron's outpost while he worked at one of his strange consoles. She found herself drifting to the sight outside that outpost once again; a sight that seemed so incredibly familiar yet absolutely alien all at the same time.

From her vantage point she saw hundreds if not thousands—perhaps more—of the same image repeated over and over; an orb of light circled by smaller orbs of varying colors moving around and around almost too fast to see.

"What is it you want me to do again?"

"Hmm? What's that? Oh, Dr. Russell, just make yourself at home and make sure we, um, maintain the right balance of, oh what was it? Oh yes, oxygen and something and all that…you know…use your medical equipment and whatnot."

She glanced at the equipment she had sent over earlier: minor monitors designed to ensure Volgron's outpost remained hospitable to human life. She could not comprehend why he had needed her to come through so far in advance of the transfer of personnel. It made no sense, yet he had wanted her there desperately.

She sighed and returned her attention to the view beyond the observation windows. The beautiful lights surrounded by smaller lights circling and…

The view took shape in her mind. She understood where she had seen it before.

_No,_ her mind protested. _It's not possible._

She stepped away from the railing, nearly stumbling. But she didn't fall. Instead she bumped into Volgron who had moved in behind her. Perhaps warned by the look of horror draped over her face. Perhaps he had expected realization at some point and had been watching each of his Alphan visitors more close than they realized.

"It is amazing, isn't it?" he said. "I imagine you've never actually seen them from such a vantage point. On the scale of your existence, some of the elements you're witnessing don't exist. At least not like this."

"You…you lied to us," she gasped but remained fixated on the fantastic sight. Comprehension crept over her like icy vines.

"Yes, well, just a little. We do open my gates via Quantum tunneling and, if you think of it, we really are at the heart of the nebula. Or we were until we drifted beneath your shield. I should thank you, really, because things were not looking too good for us. Your shield has bought us the time and the means to complete our assignment."

She turned to him.

"Assignment?"

"Why Dr. Russell, you see the sight before your eyes yet you still don't fully understand, do you? Of course that's irrelevant at this point."

She told him, "You're an invader. But from where?"

"That is difficult to explain," he admitted. "Your understanding of existence at our level is rather limited. I suppose I'm an invader from, well, _your_ universe. Just a slightly different take as to what that universe is."

She gazed back at the sight and said to him, "Those are atoms. The nucleus…surrounded by neutrons. This is the sub-atomic world."

"From your point of view, doctor. To me, this is the universe. It is, of course, a matter of perspective."

At that moment a voice came through the gateway. The voice of Paul Morrow.

"Dr. Russell, can you hear me? Are you there?"

She stepped toward the portal but before she could close the distance the gateway flickered and the yellow glob of energy was sheathed in a violet light.

Helena turned to Volgron.

"I can't permit you to return, doctor. I am sorry."

"I don't understand why."

"What would be the word? Hmmm…yes, I think the word in your language would be 'insurance.'"

"Dr. Russell, can you hear me?"

"You may answer him, doctor. But I will not permit any persons to travel through the tunnel."

She nodded and approached the gateway.

"Yes, Paul, I hear you."

"Good. Listen, we need you back here for a few moments. Tell Volgron that we only require you for a short time, but we need to discuss something with you."

Volgron approached the gateway and replied in her place.

"I'm sorry, Alpha, but Dr. Russell is required here for the time being. She won't be able to return until you've completed the energy link. I trust that all is on schedule?"

On the other side of the gateway John listened as did the others. They also noticed the change in the color of the tunnel entrance.

Bergman stepped forward and gently moved Paul aside with a hand to his shoulder.

"Volgron, can you hear me? This is Professor Bergman. If you could be good enough to send Helena back for a few moments, we'll get her straight over to you right away. I don't think we can complete the process without her assistance."

"Professor Bergman," Volgron's voice came back. "You are a man of science—as limited as it may be—and not a man of deception. Let us not mince words at this important juncture. Complete the converter work and activate the energy transfer. When this is done, Dr. Russell will be free to return to Alpha. You have my word."

Bergman replied, "I don't understand. We are still going to go forward with our evacuation, are we not?"

"You may stop the charade, Professor Bergman. You have your instructions. I expect energy transfer to begin within one of your hours."

Victor turned away and shrugged at Koenig.

Paul, meanwhile, had a more rash idea.

"Well that's not good enough. Not good enough at all," and he turned to the guards. "Security, with me. We'll bring her back."

The three men stepped toward the gateway before Koenig could intercept them. As they tried to move through, an energy surge pushed back, sending them flailing to the floor.

"Oh and one more thing," Volgron's voice came across the tunnel. "I've sealed off the gate. Only energy will pass through at this time. I suggest you hurry to complete your work."

The three men regained their feet albeit with a stumble or two.

"I don't understand, Commander, what is going on?" Paul asked.

Koenig glance around at Paul, Kano, and Victor.

"I wasn't sure until I understood where Helena is. Victor, what's going on in this nebula? What's happening beyond your shield?"

The professor crossed his arms, raised a thumb to his chin, and softly answered, "As we said before, this area of space is like a giant particle accelerator. The electromagnetic fields of the Pulsar are sending particles flying and colliding at the speed of light. Atoms are smashing in to atoms. It's like the very foundation of our universe is being dismantled with one collision after another."

Koenig said, "And what happens when your foundation has cracks?"

Paul tried to understand: "Are you saying that these collisions are causing tears in our universe? I'm not even sure what that could mean."

Bergman repeated something he had said earlier at a conference, "No matter how small something is, you can always cut it in half. Yes, well, I think I see where you're going with this, John. The conditions in this nebula are tearing at the floorboards of our universe. Creating a…creating a breach. Yes, that's it, isn't it! A breach between our universe and somewhere else…another place where Volgron is from."

Kano surmised, "So Volgron is an invader. But from where?"

"The sub-atomic world," Koenig explained. "That would be the best way to describe it. I imagine the truth is beyond our ability to actually comprehend."

Bergman nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, yes I see what you're thinking." He thought of the sights he had seen outside the windows of Volgron's outpost. "Amazing how an atom surrounded by electrons can resemble a star surrounded by planets. Millions—no,_ billions_—of tiny solar systems all around us, yet too small to notice."

"Wait a second," Paul jumped in. "I don't understand what you mean by an invader from the _sub-atomic_ world, even if I buy Volgron as an invader; no one here trusted him, not completely. But that doesn't explain what's been happening to you, Commander. It doesn't explain why our shield is under attack. Who is doing that?"

Koenig stepped away from the conversation as his mind tried to find an answer there.

"I don't know. I'm not sure," he admitted. "I think…I think we ended up in the middle of something. A battle, I suppose. On one side…Volgron invading from the sub-atomic level. On the other…"

He remembered the entity wearing the image of Tony Cellini had called himself a 'guardian'. That carried all manner of connotations. John tried to find one that fit.

"Victor," he turned sharp to Bergman. "The universe…our universe…what if it's like a body? What if protections are built in?"

"Antibodies," Victor snapped his fingers and his eyes widened with understanding. "That's it, John. Like anti-bodies in the human body, a form of protection designed into our universe form the beginning. After all, we started at the sub-atomic level and grew from there."

"I'm not following," Paul complained. "Was Tony Cellini really here? What were you seeing, Commander?"  
Koenig answered, "If we're dealing with entities that exist at the sub-atomic level they are easily small enough to manipulate my memories and other parts of my brain functions."

Bergman added, "Memories are merely chemical elements stored in the brain." He made a stirring motion with his finger. "Just move them around a bit, access the optic nerve, and you just might be able to project an image to send your message."

"They've been communicating with me since they entered my body while I was repairing the shield."

"Anything that exists at that level," Victor suggested, "would almost certainly be of pure energy. Intelligent energy, John."

Koenig surmised, "This area of space…like a particle accelerator…tearing down the boundaries between our existence and the sub-atomic world that is all around us. Just enough to allow Volgron a beachhead into our existence."

"So what does Volgron want?" Kano asked. "Why did he contact us? None of it adds up."

Koenig walked to Kano and answered, "We got between them. Don't you see? Volgron…using the instability of this part of space was fighting his way into our universe. Fighting against whatever it is that contacted me; some sort of cosmic anti-bodies. Or an intelligence. Something; the border guards between existence at the sub-atomic level and our universe. But Bergman's shield put up a barrier between them and him."

Paul: "So what's he doing in our reactor?"

Bergman deduced, "If our assumptions here are correct, his outpost—whatever it may really be—is smaller than an atom. Much smaller. He could drift between molecules the way our moon drifts between planets. Perhaps there is something about the reactions in our reactor that drew him in or stabilized his movement or gave him access to resources. But when the shield went up…"

"When the shield went up," Koenig said, "he was trapped in here. And they were trapped outside. Except for some…for some of them who slipped inside of me."

He looked over at Paul and then back to Bergman.

"Victor, they want me to turn off our shield. Yes, I remember now. They said…they said we separated them at their moment of victory. Our shield is protecting Volgron."

"And the energy he wants to siphon from the nebula?" asked Paul.

"I don't know specifics, but it is part of his plan. Do you understand? Our shield saved Volgron from defeat. Now he's using the time we've given him to prepare some kind of counter attack or new defense."

Kano sighed, "So it's been a lie, all along. He cannot send us back to Earth. He's been using us."

"And our shield," Paul guessed, "is under assault from Volgron's enemy. That's why the power drain has increased. That's why the shield is going to fail. There's nothing we can do."

"We are stuck in the middle," Kano observed. "If we lower the shield, Volgron may be destroyed but so will Alpha. If we keep the shield in place eventually the shield fails anyway and Alpha is destroyed."

"More than that," Koenig added to Kano's observation. "If we keep our shield in place it buys Volgron the time he needs to prepare. What we do now will affect more than just Alpha. It could affect the entire universe."

Bergman noted, "The sub-atomic world holds our universe together. If Volgron is attempting to de-stabilize that, all the matter in the cosmos could simply fall apart."

"And we're in the middle of it," John sighed as he understood the scope of the decision before him.

"For the greater good, John," Victor placed a hand on the Commander's shoulder. "For the greater good, it may be best for us to lower our shield and take our chances."

Paul spoke in protest but Koenig raised a hand to silence him.

"There has to be another way," and he slipped into thought.

Bergman said, "I don't see how, John. If our assumptions are correct, our shield—the very thing keeping Alpha alive right now—is a wall between the forces out there," and he glanced to the ceiling, "and Volgron's breach. That wall is buying him time to prepare. Either we help destroy him now or by the time the shield's power is drained Volgron will be prepared to launch an attack."

"I, for one, do not like the idea of dying here in this nebula," Kano mumbled.

Bergman walked over to him and, in a fatherly voice, explained, "Either way, we're going to die here, Kano. The question is when. And why. If we wait eventually our shield power will drain away. You saw computer's revised calculations yourself. But if we are selfish enough to keep the shield on for those hours it buys Volgron the time to destroy our universe. Turn it off now and we die a few hours earlier, but the universe may survive. Is that really even a choice?"

Koenig spoke softly while rubbing his thumb atop a clenched fist: "Our shield is like a wall."

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Bergman answered.

Koenig spoke louder, "Like the impregnable walls of Troy; the Greeks camped outside unable to win the siege."

Paul protested, "Searching for the perfect metaphor isn't helping things."

Koenig ignored him and said to Victor, "Maybe it's more than a metaphor. Maybe it's a plan."

Bergman's eyes widened, "John…yes! Do you think..?"

"There's only one way to find out."

While the rest watched in confusion, John Koenig approached the violet-sheathed gateway. He stepped close; so close he could feel an energy like electricity. The hairs on his arms stood straight. Then that energy tried to push him away like positively charged ends of a magnet repulsing.

"I know where Helena went!" He said. "We won't lower the shield, damn it. This is your chance to do something! Now do it!"

Whether the entities hidden inside his body heard him or merely recognized what to do, John Koenig did not know; he only knew it didn't matter.

The green energy seeped from his body in a glowing glob, surrounding the commander in a cocoon and radiating from his eyes and the tips of his fingers. This time all the gathered Alphans bore witness.

"Commander!" Paul yelled. "What's happening to you?"

The Commander—or whatever now controlled the Commander's body—stood at the closed gateway and held his hands aloft. The radiating power of the Quantum Tunnel was met by radiation from John Koenig.

Paul motioned everyone to step back. It looked as if the Commander and the gateway might just explode. Several Alphans hurried out the double red doors for some placebo of safety. Most stayed behind, transfixed by the incredible sight.

The violet color of the blocked tunnel vibrated, swirled, and then cracked; first a tiny round hole of yellow then wider and wider. Just enough for the Commander to lean and jump through like an Olympian off a diving board.

Paul and Victor stepped closer to the forced-open gate.

"My God, what has the Commander become?"

Victor answered, "A Trojan horse."

---

Helena stood at the observation window watching the swirling, speeding, flashing, and orbiting atoms and all their accompanying particles. She saw a flash and wondered if it was a quark. She watched a strange sphere drift through the collection of particles and wondered if it was the Higgs-Boson particle. Of all the things she wondered, she wondered if she would ever see Alpha again. How strange that she even thought of it as 'home' when, in truth, they had been searching for a home ever since leaving Earth's orbit.

Volgron paced along the observation deck paying some mind to his strange controls but generally waiting; impatiently. He had his back to the gateway when Helena—out the corner of her eye—saw the violet shield rip from the center out and John Koenig come through. Diving through. Hitting the ground and rolling behind one of the carts carrying Helena's portable monitors.

Volgron could not help but hear the crackle of electricity and the heavy thump of the intruder as well as the gasp of shock from Helena's lips.

"What is this? How is this possible?" the alien's voice reverberated with surprise.

Koenig stood.

"John!"

"Commander Koenig, we finally meet," Volgron said in a voice that remained shaky. "I did not think you had the ability to punch through my gateway. Well done. But wasted effort, I'm afraid."

Volgron raised his hand. Helena saw that hand to be an illusion. The fingers, the wrist, the end of the arm all turned to liquid plasma; no doubt a glimpse of the alien's true composition.

From that arm shot a stream of yellow energy. It hit the environmental monitors on the cart. The equipment fell apart, not in big chunks or pieces but particle by particle; dissolving into a fine dust that puffed away in a cloud.

"You can't do this!" Helena shouted. "We trusted you!"

Volgron mocked, "You trusted _us…"_

The alien's body fell apart like the destroyed monitor; molecule by molecule in a cloud of living particles colored yellow and white.

Helena turned to Koenig. The Commander stood straight, defenseless and exposed in the face of the alien invader.

"John! Look out!"

But he did not react. Not with words.

The energy emerged from his body, once again in a blob of green; a protoplasm of energy that drifted away from its host and took position against the invaders.

"Helena!" John blinked free of his trance. "C'mon! There's not much time."

He reached out and grabbed her hand. Helena—confused and scared—stumbled but managed one last look to the battle. That blob of energy took an outline and form vaguely human; vaguely familiar. In those soft green lines she saw the image of Tony Cellini. Not human; not really. Just a memory in physical form.

The image of Cellini charged into the spiraling mass of yellow and white particles which, for its part, attempted retreat. The enemy had slipped inside their walls; their defenses defeated.

As the aliens known as Volgron fell in battle so did the construct designed to fool the Alphans. Helena's last vision of the sub-atomic world was of the outpost melting away from matter into yellow energy. A thousand explosions far tinier than her imagination could conjure marked the death of the illusion.

And then she was through the tunnel, pulled by John Koenig back to Alpha.

_Home._

"John!" Bergman yelled. "What happened? Did it work?"

He required no answer. The tunnel emitted a flash of light forcing the gathered to quickly pull back. When the flash cleared, the tunnel had gone.

John Koenig wrapped an arm around Helena and let her rest her tired head on his shoulders. He could feel her quiver but she quivered no more than anyone else in the room.

The Commpost broke the silence. Sandra's image broadcast to the chamber.

"Paul, Commander…sensors report a decrease in pressure against the shield. Power requirements are returning to normal. Computer now calculates that we will be able to maintain the electromagnetic shield for the duration of our trip through the nebula."

No one could say a word. What would they say? Instead glances conveyed messages that sentences could not.

*

*

*

The moon slipped out from beneath the storm of particles and beyond the reach of the Pulsar wind nebula. The shiny blue shield that had protected Alpha switched off and yet another of Professor Bergman's inventions had saved the day.

John Koenig watched the last act of their journey through that strange section of space play out from his rightful position atop the stairs leading to the Commander's office from Main Mission.

"All done, John," Bergman said as he stood next to Paul Morrow and monitored the shield's shut down. "Back into open space."

"Thank you, Victor. Job well done, everyone. Let's get back to work."

Victor nodded and Commander Koenig retreated to his office and, with a small chime from his Commlock, sealed the long sliding bulkhead between his private office and the heart of Alpha moon base.

He strolled around his desk and took a seat, but did not immediately reach for the status reports, duty rosters, and schedules awaiting his approval. He sat there, in silence, until the side door opened and Dr. Russell walked in.

Koenig asked quickly, "Alan?"

"He's out of medical and in his quarters," she answered as she moved to John's desk and took a casual seat on the edge overlooking him. "I might have to put security on his door to keep him in bed, but in a day or two he'll be back in the cockpit."

He did not reply. Helena studied his face the way she had studied it looking for answers in the day and a half since the implosion of Volgron's Quantum Tunnel.

She finally asked, "What about you, John? Are you ready?"

That produced a reaction of denial. He reached for the stack of papers and looked anywhere but at her.

"I have a lot to do, Helena. Now that the excitement is over."

She touched his arm. At first he flinched, and then he relaxed and slumped into his chair rubbing a hand across his forehead.

"What about that excitement, John? Have you dealt with it?"

He tried to react angrily. "Don't mince words, doctor if you have…" but he caught himself. After a deep breath he replied, "Which part? The part that I had to deal with Tony Cellini again, or everything else?"

"I guess both. You and Tony were close. It must have been hard to see an old friend again."

He sat silent for several long seconds before telling her, "I fought for Tony Cellini back on Earth, and then again here on Alpha. You know that."

"Yes," she recalled some heated exchanges. "I remember."

"But in the end, Helena, deep down in here," and he poked his chest with a finger and found her eyes, "even I never believed him. Not until I saw his dragon with my own eyes."

She licked her lips and confessed, "The same way none of us believed you, until we saw it with our own eyes. Sorry, John."

His eyes narrowed as if searching for something hanging in the air and he softly asked, "What is harder to believe…a ghost visiting me or that our sub-atomic world is a universe of its own?"

"Or maybe we're the tiny ones, John. Maybe we're nothing more than atoms and neutrons buzzing around in someone else's universe. I suppose we could drive ourselves crazy just thinking about it. I prefer to keep things simple," she smiled and reduced the event to its most basic element: "We were just caught in the middle of an intergalactic war."

"An intergalactic war," John Koenig repeated and then added, "Being fought on the head of a pin."

**series created by**

**Gerry and Sylvia**

**Anderson**


End file.
